Senator Romero Provides Bold Leadership to Revitalize State's Lowest Achieving Schools
April 30, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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(Sacramento, CA) - EdVoice praised action taken yesterday by the State Senate Education Committee to move legislation that drives real change in California's historically lowest-performing schools. After a sober and at times uncomfortable discussion of the state's lackluster voluntary school improvement efforts over the last decade at a cost of over $2.5 billion in over 2,200 struggling schools, the committee voted to approve a new approach to accelerate renewal efforts.
The bill, SB 742, authored by Senator Gloria Romero, establishes a mechanism so the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education can jointly identify the 10 historically lowest-performing schools in the state; it then empowers - and requires - local school leaders to pick from several reform options to set the schools on a course to improvement.
“This bill means hope for kids sitting in the same chronically low-performing schools that have failed their families for decades,” said Rae Belisle, EdVoice CEO. “It's clear our 10–year old system of opt-in accountability has fallen short; SB 742 demands action to facilitate improvement where it’s needed most.” As amended in the committee, the measure ensures that these efforts are evaluated and that lessons learned regarding what works are passed along and replicated in other similar chronically low-performing schools not currently on the list of the 10 historically lowest performing.
“It is unacceptable for low-performing schools to continue to fail to educate our students, especially in urban communities with large low-income and minority student populations,” said Eli Broad, Co-Chair of the EdVoice Board of Directors. “Every student deserves to live up to their full potential, and we need to hold our leaders accountable for delivering high-quality schools. The status quo cannot be allowed to continue. Our students deserve the best education. Our state and national economy depends on it. And thankfully SB 742 authored by Senator Romero begins to address this issue.”
SB 742 does not dictate a one-size-fits-all formula for improvement. Instead, local leaders are able to pick from several reform options to re-shape their historically low-performing school to better meet the needs of students. “SB 742 honors local control by recognizing that authentic renewal efforts originate at the local level,” explained Belisle. “But it also sends a clear message that doing nothing is no longer an option.”
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