Frequently Asked Questions

By Jose Escarce

Dr. Escarce answers questions about why he is running for the School Board, his qualifications, and the major challenges facing the District.

a. Inadequate funding:

Public schools in California have been underfunded for many years. Resolving this situation will require continued pressure on state policymakers by parents, teachers, the business community, and the general citizenry of this state. Continued pressure is likely to result in steady growth in the state revenues that public schools receive per student.

Locally, we are fortunate to live in a community that values excellent public education and where the city government contributes financially to the public schools. Both Santa Monica and Malibu must increase their contributions to the school district, however, commensurate with the cities' statements that education is their number one priority. Making this happen is likely to require a genuine commitment on the part of the new School Board and district administrators to developing a working partnership with local government officials. Persistent and forceful expressions of support for increasing the cities' contributions to the schools from local parents, businesses, and other citizens also will be important.

Lastly, our district should take advantage of our local communities' wealth by tapping private sources of revenues to a greater degree. The Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation's plan to build an endowment for arts education will be a terrific start, but I believe that over time we should consider expanding private fund-raising efforts to include facilities and other programs.

b. Uneven performance of schools within the district:

The gap in academic achievement between low-income or minority students, on the one hand, and more affluent, non-minority students, on the other, is one of the most important problems facing school districts around the nation. Narrowing, and eventually eliminating, this gap is essential not only for our schools but also for the future of our country and our society. An important factor expanding access to preschool for low-income children, so that they may arrive in kindergarten ready to learn. However, K-12 educators must take steps to solve the problem as well.

In my view, the only way to narrow the achievement gap, and to help all students reach their full potential, is to believe that every student can meet high standards if given the necessary support. What we cannot do is adopt the attitude that high standards are fine for some students but not for others. In this regard, we must be open to learning from schools where low-income and minority students are performing at very high levels. Such schools exist in every state and region of the country, and we even have several in our own county. When one looks at these schools the dominant theme that emerges is that they have a challenging curriculum and high expectations for all their students. They also tend to use state standards extensively to design curriculum and instruction and to assess student work, devote resources to professional development focused on supporting the standards, have systems to monitor individual student progress and provide extra support to students as soon as it is needed, and focus their efforts to involve parents in helping students meet the standards. Our district has begun to incorporate some of these elements into its own programs, but our efforts are at an early stage. I am confident that we will make progress toward eliminating the achievement gap if we remain on this course and intensify our efforts.

c. Inadequate communication between the District and the public:

Lack of communication between the District and the public has contributed to a loss of credibility. Several steps should be taken to address this problem. First, District staff and the Board must establish a culture of mutual respect, trust, and open exchange of ideas with the public. District staff and the Board must be responsive to community members' concerns about the workings of the district, and take advantage of opportunities to hear the public's views. The district also should be more proactive about disseminating information regarding the district's vision, goals, standards, curricula, and programs. In particular, it should consider producing an informational booklet for parents, as well as an annual report to the community covering the district's programs, academic achievement, and finances.

2. Why do you want to be on the School Board?

Education has been one of the principal influences on my life--it has shaped the way I think, helped me to become a better citizen, and opened doors for me that I never even knew existed. As a result, I have come to view an excellent system of public education as one of the main instruments available to us for helping people live fulfilled lives, preventing unnecessary suffering, and improving communities.

Since settling in Santa Monica, I have become heavily involved in our school district and schools. I have participated in the District Advisory Committee for Fine Arts, the District's Parcel Tax Committee, and the panel that interviewed principal candidates for Santa Monica High School. I have volunteered at various school sites. I also serve on the steering committee of Community for Excellent Public Schools, a broad-based group of civic leaders that came together to advocate for excellence in public education and to obtain increased local funding for our schools.

Through these experiences, and my own children's experiences in their schools, I have learned that we are extremely fortunate to live in Santa Monica or Malibu, because we have a very good school district with numerous strengths. However, I have also come to believe that we can do more to make our schools even better. I believe that we have the potential to be one of the best public school districts in California. I want to be on the School Board because I know that I can help the District fulfill this potential.

3. What in your background, training, and experience qualifies you for the post?

My educational experiences, involvement in my children's schooling, and professional training have fostered my passion for education and serve as my qualifications for the School Board. Although I attended quite modest schools in Miami, Florida, the education that I received prepared me for studying at some of our nation's finest universities. I received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, a master's from Harvard, and my M.D. and economics Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout my college and postgraduate years, I drew upon habits of mind and study that I had learned and practiced in middle school and high school to help me succeed. As a result of these experiences, I am strong advocate of a well-rounded, liberal education; I am passionate about learning, instruction, and fostering students' intellectual growth.

My intensive involvement in my three children's schooling, both at home and through participation in school and District activities, has reinforced these core beliefs and provided a valuable new perspective as well. (My involvement in the Santa Monica-Malibu School District was described in response to an earlier question.) In particular, it has raised my awareness of the value of music and the arts in education and helped me to become intimately familiar with many of the issues currently facing our schools. I have read widely about education and enjoy tracking new developments in the field.

My professional career also has involved education, albeit at the college and postgraduate levels. Prior to settling in Santa Monica, I was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where I taught clinical medicine to medical students and residents and gave frequent lectures on health policy to students at the Wharton School. Currently, I am Adjunct Professor of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health, where I lecture on health economics and supervise graduate students in their research.

My professional experience as a health policy expert represents an important qualification for the Board as well. In this role, I have participated in numerous national panels on health policy and health policy research. These panels can be contentious, as they often bring together diverse groups of people with differing perspectives to achieve common goals. On these panels I have gained a reputation for being open-minded, thoughtful, persuasive, and a consensus builder, all qualities that will contribute to improving the culture of the Board.

Finally, my professional experience as a health policy researcher will enable me to bring a unique and valuable perspective to the Board. As a researcher, I will approach problems by looking for solutions that have worked elsewhere, with the understanding that these solutions may have to be modified to fit our own special circumstances. I will also encourage the District continually to evaluate our practices and programs, so that we can find out which are working and which are not working, and determine what changes we need to make.

4. What, in your opinion, are the primary responsibilities of the board?

Elected School Boards have the authority and responsibility of governing local school districts, a role that encompasses a variety of crucial elements. First, the Board must establish a vision for the district. The vision should be one that sets a direction for the district and can be used to drive every aspect of the district's program. Second, the Board is responsible for maintaining an efficient and effective organizational structure that supports the district's vision. It does this by hiring the Superintendent and setting policies for hiring other staff, establishing curriculum standards and adopting curricula that meet those standards, providing for professional development of teachers, and setting budget priorities. Third, the Board must ensure accountability to the community by evaluating the Superintendent and other staff, reviewing district policies, monitoring student achievement and program effectiveness, and monitoring and adjusting district finances. Lastly, the Board must involve the community in setting the district's vision and communicate information to the community regarding district policies, programs, academic achievement, and finances.

5. What qualities will you look for in a new superintendent?

The Superintendent of a public school district sets the tone for the district. She or he is instrumental in setting academic expectations, shaping the district's culture, and selecting staff for other leadership positions. Consequently, an outstanding Superintendent is the key to an outstanding school district.

My goal is to hire a Superintendent with a proven track record of success in a diverse public school district like ours. Our new Superintendent must possess three additional attributes as well: (1) an unwavering dedication to fostering learning and raising academic achievement for all our students; (2) a sincere commitment to forming partnerships with teachers, parents, and staff; and (3) that intangible quality called "leadership," characterized by the ability to inspire others to reach for seemingly impossible goals and the willingness to assume responsibility for making difficult decisions.

Hiring an outstanding Superintendent will not be easy, because there is a national shortage of talented superintendents. Nonetheless, I am certain that we can find and recruit the right person if we conduct an aggressive search that is national in scope, vigorously "sell" outstanding candidates on the numerous strengths of our schools and communities, and offer a compensation package commensurate with the importance of the position.

6. What, in your opinion, are the most successful and/or valuable programs in the District?

Aside from our core academic programs, I believe that our most successful and valuable program is our outstanding music program. Our music program distinguishes our school district from surrounding districts, and is a source of pride not only for our schools but also for our communities. Our music program encourages many students to participate in music who otherwise would not or could not do so. It introduces an essential artistic, aesthetic, and creative component to the education of many of our students and gives these students inclinations and abilities that will serve them for a lifetime. One of my goals will be to expand the music program in the elementary school. I will encourage the District to create a music block in elementary school so that all students, whether or not they participate in the instrumental program, have formal exposure to music early in their academic careers.

7. What new programs, if any, would you add?

One of my priorities is to reduce class size at the secondary level, and especially in our high schools. We must also reduce the total number of students who attend Samohi. Although class size reduction is not a program in the usual sense, it is so important that it requires the same type of attention and commitment that a new program would receive. Currently, nearly one-half of all classes at Samohi have more than 30 students, and many classes have more than 35 students. Our average high school class size is higher than in the top performing school districts in California, and substantially higher than the national average. Large high school class sizes interfere with the learning environment, reduce the individual attention that students receive, and lead teachers to assign less writing.

We should support state policymakers who are considering increasing school funding specifically for the purpose of class size reduction at the secondary level. Locally, the Board needs to summon the will to dedicate a portion of any additional general revenues that we receive, whether from state or local sources, to reduce class size in our high schools and to lower total enrollment at Samohi. A focus on class size reduction and shrinking Samohi will force us to reconsider the policies regarding enrollment growth that we have pursued in recent years.

8. What would you do to attract and retain top teachers?

To attract and retain exceptional teachers, our district must offer attractive salaries and working conditions. We must ensure that teachers' salaries in Santa Monica and Malibu are competitive with the salaries offered by surrounding districts, especially those with a reputation for being good places to work. In addition, we must take steps to improve teachers' working conditions. For instance, we must enhance our support program for beginning teachers to include curriculum support. We must provide increased opportunities for meaningful professional development to help both new and established teachers in implementing the state's (or district's) new curriculum standards. We must develop a system of peer assistance and review so that our most experienced and talented teachers can help their colleagues teach more effectively. We must make it a priority to reduce class size in middle school and high school, to reduce the nearly unmanageable numbers of students that secondary teachers currently teach, and to make it easier for these teachers to give students individual attention. Finally, we must create in the district a culture that values teachers and both fosters and celebrates excellent teaching. To do so, we must establish open lines of communication among the Board, district administrators, parents, and teachers, and we must build genuine partnerships for educational excellence that involve all of these groups.