California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools

Education in CA is an apparently incurable disaster for many. Discipline enforcement via corporal punishment would work but we can no longer do that so the kids have to put up with getting negligible education

With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. In his January 2008 State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger touted his intention to be the first governor to use "powers given under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act to turn challenged districts around." Currently, 98 California school districts have fallen short of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets enough to qualify for corrective action. Each of the 98 districts has failed to meet its basic academic progress goals for at least three years, some for as many as seven or eight years.

Schwarzenegger's plan has focused on providing state-approved technical assistance to help local school districts craft plans to meet NCLB accountability standards, expand education data access and capabilities, and offer new avenues to license teachers. Dr. Vicki Murray, senior education fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank in Sacramento, praised the governor for his reform but said it doesn't go nearly far enough. "It's a good first step, but the real issue is that no parent should be expected to make their child a sacrificial lamb to the schools that fail to improve year after year," Murray said. "Choice should be real alternatives, [and] it should be universal and immediate."

Under NCLB, school districts have to offer students in failing schools free transportation to another school in the district. But many California districts have only a few schools from which to choose, and in some cases, they don't have any schools demonstrating academic success. As a result, Murray says, this sanction does not offer families much hope. "Sure, parents can pull their kids out of a school," Murray said. "But when so many schools are underperforming, what's a parent to do?"

Clint Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute's Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation in Arizona, agrees about the shortcomings of NCLB. "The law itself is deficient in not providing for meaningful remedies," Bolick said. Bolick noted many districts are not even enforcing the weak provisions the federal law affords. In 2006, in his former position as director of the Alliance for School Choice, he helped launch legal action against California's Los Angeles Unified and Compton school districts for failing to comply with the federal law's choice provisions. The complaint is lodged in the state secretary of education's office, where it is awaiting action.

Bolick said the secretary "has the power to issue monetary sanctions" but has yet to follow through. He hopes the governor's pronouncements will turn things around. "It would be absolutely titanic to have Gov. Schwarzenegger on board with a strong enforcement of No Child Left Behind, even though the law does not provide perfect remedies," said Bolick.

The direction of California's reform discussion has shifted since reports emerged in December 2007 revealing the state faces an overall budget deficit of more than $14 billion. "A lot of people think reform [means devoting additional financial] resources, so that put a lot of rain on their parade for 2008," said Murray. But Fred Glass, spokesman for the California Federation for Teachers (CFT), believes the budget shortfall can be cured by restoring a rescinded vehicle license fee and instituting a severance tax comparable to those in other oil-producing states. He said Schwarzenegger's plan is meaningless if the deficit cannot be overcome. "You can dress up reality any way you want, but the reality remains that it's hard to make progress when you're starving the system," said Glass, citing a 2008 Education Week survey that ranked California 43rd in per-pupil funding.

CFT's slate of proposals to fix underachieving school districts includes reducing class sizes by hiring more teachers [known to be totally ineffective] and contributing additional funds to programs that provide mentorship opportunities between new and experienced educators. Murray says that type of approach has been tried repeatedly without favorable results. "Schools prefer the softer sanctions, like tweaking the curriculum and providing more teacher training," Murray said. "But, of course, that doesn't do anything. You just look like you're doing something, and you're not fundamentally changing what's being done."

Instead, Murray would like to see the governor make use of the serious sanctions available to him under NCLB. Types of corrective action chronically failing schools could face include undergoing complete staff overhauls, being taken over by a private management company, or converting to charter schools. Glass does not see a serious possibility of the governor following through with any of those actions, nor does he think it would help the state's 98 underperforming districts. "Those kinds of concerns don't address the root problems," Glass said.

But Murray sees a real opportunity for Schwarzenegger to set a bold new course. "He is taking a strong stand against an ossified, recalcitrant system," Murray said. "California could be the first state to really turn things around."

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Coulter skewers liberals at Stony Brook

Conservative author Ann Coulter came to Stony Brook University Monday night with observations that sealed her reputation as a caustic commentator. Speaking before about 200 people at a lecture titled "Liberals are Wrong about Everything," she talked about topics ranging from the presidential campaign -- she criticized all three presidential candidates -- to Islamic terrorism to biting criticism of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

While disdainful of the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, whom she repeatedly referred to as B. Hussein Obama, she was not hopeful that Republicans could triumph in the election. "It looks like it's going to be a bad year, but in America there is always hope," Coulter told a mostly supportive audience of students, community and faculty members.

She said liberals "want to do nothing" to fight terrorism and listed a litany of what she considered liberal wrongs over the past four decades. "The fact of Islamo-facism is indisputable," Coulter said. "Liberals want to do nothing. ... Liberals believe in burning their draft cards, putting crucifixes in urine."

Coulter lectured last night in the university's Student Activities Center auditorium. No video, audio or photographs of her appearance were allowed during the lecture, which cost $5 for students and $10 for nonstudents. According to the Web site of the Young America's Foundation, which co-sponsored the event with the Stony Brook University College Republicans, Coulter commands $20,000-plus for her lectures on college campuses.

After she spoke, Coulter took questions from the audience. Coulter's searing commentary and the provocative language she uses to skewer liberals have often drawn fire. Former Democratic candidate John Edwards, when he was running for president last year, used inflammatory statements Coulter made about him to solicit campaign donations. Coulter had used an anti-gay slur to describe Edwards.

Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, later called in to Chris Matthews' show "Hardball" to ask Coulter to stop the personal attacks. An Associated Press account of the incident said the exchange "deteriorated," with Coulter shouting over Elizabeth Edwards and demanding that the Edwards campaign stop using her name to solicit donations.

After the speech, supporters praised Coulter for giving the other side of popular issues. Norma Jeanne Okula of Manorhaven said Coulter was "very impressive." Okula said she liked the fact that Coulter's appearance may be a sign of a growing conservative movement on campus.

Stony Brook's College Republican President Kevin McKeon introduced Coulter to the crowd. "I hope we're changing minds," McKeon told the audience as Coulter waited nearby ready to speak. "It's not particularly popular to be conservative on campus. We'd like to change that."

Not everyone supported what Coulter had to say. Kayvan Zarrabi, 21, of Northport, said Coulter "presents a shtick on stage. You can't take it seriously. She didn't support her statements."

Coulter has faced controversy on Long Island before. In 2006, during an appearance at the Book Revue in Huntington, fans cheered as she tore up a letter protesting her appearance by a town official after she had called 9/11 widows "witches" and "harpies." During the question and answer segment, Coulter proudly defended her reputation as an in-your-face commentator. "I think I am more vicious," Coulter said to loud applause.

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