RESTORING CALIFORNIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO GREATNESS

By Gray Davis

Education Plan

Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis "RESTORE OUR SCHOOLS TO GREATNESS" PLAN

Gray Davis believes California's public schools are broken, and his first priority as Governor will be to fix them. To accomplish that, he believes we must demand more responsibility and more accountability from parents, students, teachers, administrators and society itself.

He also believes that higher standards and higher expectations are the key to greater student achievement. If we ask more of our kids, they will rise up to meet the challenge. If we make excuses for their failure, too many will continue to fail.

Gray Davis has outlined a comprehensive plan to restore our public schools to greatness:

· Require parents to sign an annual contract with their child's school. This agreement would commit parents to help their kids with homework and participate in regular school meetings. Many private schools and some public charter schools already require such a parental commitment as a condition of enrollment.

· Implement a stringent program of annual school evaluations. Set specific academic objectives for every school, which can be monitored and evaluated. Schools not meeting their goals would receive expedited evaluation and assistance to bring them up to standards.

· Ensure that every student has a current textbook in each core subject. Set aside a $3 billion fund over five years to restock California's public schools, which have one of the lowest textbook-to-student ratios in the country.

· End social promotion in schools. Implement a summer school program for all third-, sixth-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students who do not test at grade level in reading and math. If they still test below grade level after summer school, require them to repeat the grade with help from special tutors to get them up to speed.

· Reevaluate teacher performance standards. Institute annual peer evaluation of teachers and test them every five years in their area of specialty.

· Accelerate the process of producing certified teachers for the classroom. Offer undergraduate degrees in education; expand opportunities for college students interested in teaching to observe and assist in classrooms; dismiss "emergency-permitted" teachers who do not take steps to obtain a teaching credential; expand mentor programs to lower the attrition rate of beginning teachers; allow certified teachers from other states to transfer their credential to California; and offer financial incentives to retain experienced teachers.

· Increase the number of charter schools in California. These "laboratories of educational innovation" must be greatly expanded and duplicated around the State.

· Establish a zero-tolerance policy for drugs, weapons and violence against an authority figure on campus. Any student who uses or sells drugs, brings a weapon to school or commits violence against a teacher or administrator will be removed from school. Alternative schools will be expanded for disruptive students and will provide intervention resources, including counseling and drug treatment.

· Install a chief executive officer in every California school district who has an MBA and is a certified public accountant. This CEO will be responsible for ensuring the fiscal integrity of each district, and will issue an annual report to document key statistics regarding school performance, drop out rates and academic performance.

· Reduce the vote requirement from two-thirds to a simple majority to pass local school bond measures in California. This change is needed to rebuild our deteriorating educational infrastructure, which has resulted in unsafe and unsanitary schools and classrooms.

· If all else fails, have the State take over poorly performing schools. Special turn-around teams, including private-sector experts, would be brought in to replace bad administrators. Incompetent teachers would either be brought up to speed or removed.