Education is a Top Priority

By Kevin Biggers

We must make education and job training a priority. We need to commit more resources to preparing today's students to create a better tomorrow.

Contrast this situation with the schools in the 25th district that are located in some of the poorer areas. These parents too are holding fundraisers, car washes and rummage sales to raise funds to save their teachers. The gap, however, between the cuts imposed by the Governor's budget and the funds these parents raise is likely to still be large and as a result, these schools face big cuts to their teachers and programs, causing further overcrowding in already overcrowded classrooms. Clearly this situation is a recipe for disaster, with the children living in the less affluent areas of the district falling farther and farther behind. Something must be done to change the direction our public schools have been headed in for the past 30 years.

Setting aside the current budget debacle for a moment, my longer range vision for our public school system focuses on two main issues: overcrowding and the student dropout rate. To tackle our overcrowding problem, I will propose alternative scheduling for our high schools. We need to encourage block scheduling, with longer hours available for students to take classes. This will allow working students to hold down a job with viable hours and still accommodate their school schedules. In addition, it will ease the overcrowding that exists today in many of our inner city schools. This system is in place within the Palos Verdes School District and is highly successful.

I will also encourage high school choice within the same school district. In the Palos Verdes School District, students within the district can choose between Palos Verdes High School, a school with block scheduling or Peninsula High School, a school with traditional scheduling. Giving students an option between the two schools, allows students to make the best decision for their education, leveraging alternatives and options within the same district. This choice provides students and their parents with the control they need to make the best decision for the student's education.

The drop out rate in the South Los Angeles area is among the highest in the state at nearly 50%. This appalling statistic results in a disproportionate number of our young in the inner city areas of the 25th district going to juvenile hall or joining gangs. The gangs are fed by the young people who are left idle when they have no educational future.

We need a renaissance project for our public schools system, a type of public works project on the scale of Governor Pat Brown's emphasis on the higher education system in the state over 42 years ago. We need to blend what is working -- the higher emphasis on math and science for those students headed to college and bring back programs such as vocational training -- providing our students not headed for college with technical and trade skills they can begin to develop in high school so they don't end up on the streets or jail. In addition, we need to partner with businesses and beef up the Regional Occupational Centers and provide training and career counseling for the students who want to enter a trade or similar profession.

These efforts, combined with preparing our college-bound youngsters with higher math and science skills, will prepare students throughout the 25th district and throughout California with the skills our economy will need in the 21st Century. If we do not do something now, we will not have enough skilled workers to replace the retirements of the baby boomers, which in 2008 will start to reach 500 per day.