Public education in California today faces two very serious challenges.
One, is the almost annual targeting of education funds when the state is facing a tough budget year.
The Governor's budget proposal reduces education funding by $4.8 billion and calls for the suspension of proposition 98.
While I fully understand that both the Governor and the legislature have a number of difficult decisions to make in the coming months regarding the budget, I don't think reducing education funding is the way to go.
The proposed cuts to education have already forced school districts to:
- Issue more than 24,000 pink slips to teachers and staff; and
- Consider scaling back or even completely do away with vital student programs, like sports, IB, AP, music, and summer school.
Education is already underfunded – we're a dismal 46th in the nation in per-pupil spending – and reducing that funding even more would do a tremendous disservice to our children.
I've been traveling the state to get a comprehensive sense of how our schools stand to be impacted by these cuts.
Some of the most telling conversations I've had were with, who else, but our students.
I have sat and listened to their concerns and seen the immeasurable disappointment on their faces and heard it in their voices as they talk about important programs to which they may no longer have access.
So I sincerely hope the outlook for education is a brighter one in the Governor's May revision.
And for the sake of our students, teachers, staff and schools, an on-time and equitable budget that places education at the top of our priorities list is imperative.
The other challenge education faces in our state is preparing our students to work in an increasingly competitive and global economy.
A major key to this is CTE (career technical education).
In fact, today's world absolutely demands that we prepare all students to be critical thinkers, higher level problem solvers, and lifelong learners with the ability to embrace change.
Students today are likely to change careers numerous times in their lives, and so, the CTE needed today must provide students with both a sound academic foundation and a wide range of skills – survival skills, really – that will enable all kids, from all backgrounds to succeed and adapt to a number of professional and technical fields in the future.
And there some exciting developments regarding CTE.
I am sponsoring AB 2515 (Hancock) – this measure would allow the SPI to approve and certify regional occupational centers and programs to offer California apprenticeship preparation programs.
This would help raise students' awareness and interest in building and construction trades apprenticeship programs while ensuring they receive relevant hands-on instruction that is aligned with the state's career technical education standards and framework.
This really is critical because in 2006 voters approved an infrastructure bond package (Propositions 1B – 1E) totaling over $37 billion dollars. This package, in addition to the state's need to meet the demands of a global economy, has created a large demand for a well-educated and skilled workforce.
Also, as a result of this economic growth and pending baby boomer retirements, the California employment development department estimates that there will be 6.5 million new job openings generated in California by 2014.
I am also pleased to announce that the California state CTE plan was recently approved by the state board of education.
This plan will guide the development and direction of CTE over the next five years.
The plan includes:
K-12/adult programs:
- Elementary school awareness and middle school introductory CTE programs;
- High school CTE offered through 1,165 high schools in single courses, course sequences, or through over 300 integrated learning communities; and
Community college (CC) programs:
- CC occupational programs offered at all 109 colleges, leading to certificates, associate degrees, and transfer to four-year universities; and
- Tech prep programs delivered through 80 tech prep "consortia," comprising 109 colleges and their feeder schools.
Also of note are developments relating to SB 70, the governor's career technical education initiative, which provided $20 million to California community colleges to expand vocational and career technical educational opportunities and to improve alignment between secondary and postsecondary career pathway programs – that funding was increased this year by $22 million, which enabled us to fund an additional 50 California partnership academies this year.
And just a few weeks ago, the state allocation board approved for the first time, $198 million in Proposition 1D funds for the new construction or modernization of 174 career technical education facilities projects throughout California.
Finally, I've also helped launch WhoDoYouWant2b, a marketing campaign that seeks to expose kids to the world of CTE.
The campaign is important because it targets kids from ages 12-19.
It is never too early, nor too late to get kids thinking about the future, and as an educator, this is job number one for me.
I encourage you to check out the campaigns web site at WhoDoYouWant2b [www. Whodouwant2b.com] (Outside Source).
So this is proving to be yet another fast-paced, development-filled year in the world of education.
The fight to protect education funding in this year's budget is well under way and it won't be easy, but I'm committed to our students and our schools in this fight.
And even during this difficult fiscal period for our state, I'm pleased to have reported to you that we are continuing to move forward with our efforts in providing all of our students the kind of high quality education that will give them the best possible chance of success in the future.
The challenges we face are great, but by no means insurmountable.
