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Governor Schwarzenegger has pretended to be a friend to the education community and kids of California. His true agenda came out during his State of the State address in January. The following items outline his attack on education. His proposals and the initiatives he advocates include:
1. Governor Schwarzenegger reneged on his agreement to repay $2 billion from the ’03-’04 budget cycle. Last year, the made a pact with the education coalition giving them half of what they were constitutionally entitled to in order to balance the budget and close the $15 billion deficit the state faced. The children and teachers of California did their part to help the state. Now that the Governor has had his way, he has forgotten the agreement that he agreed to, had written into law, and signed last August. He promised, and then signed the bill, saying he would repay the $2 billion dollars from last year. Now he is breaking his word.
2. He has accused teachers of being a special interest group, and is pitting the parents and constituents against teachers. “My colleagues, this is going to be a big political fight. This is a battle of the special interests versus the children’s interests. Which will you choose?” (State of the State, Jan. 2005)Are teachers a special interest group? Well, I guess they are. Their special interest? The children of California.
3. Governor Schwarzenegger proposes permanently reducing funding guaranteed by Prop. 98. The bill, ACAx14, sponsored by Keene, “eliminates Test 3 (Maintenance Factor) of the Prop. 98 guarantee. All prior sums due for the Maintenance Factor and Settle-up will be viewed as a one-time obligation and will be paid over a period of up to 15 years. These dollars would not be applied to the Prop. 98 base.”
4. Governor Schwarzenegger proposes permanently cutting the state’s contribution to CalPERS and CalSTRS, and changing these from defined benefit to defined contribution programs, undermining the fiscal integrity of both programs. (This is Special Session bill ACAx11 and Regular Session bill ACA 5, both sponsored by Richman.)
5. Governor Schwarzenegger proposes paying teachers based on merit, not tenure (even though tenure does not legally exist in CA. Keep in mind, he doesn’t say how he will pay for this plan, nor does he acknowledge that teachers’ performances are reviewed regularly through the formal evaluation process and that teachers take part in constant professional development and continuing education per ed code.). The bill, SCAx11, sponsored by Runner, “establishes ‘merit pay’ by requiring that any employment decision be based solely on employee performance, as assessed annually, and on the needs of the school district and its pupils; and bars employers from considering employee seniority in employment decisions. The bill overrides collective bargaining agreements and prohibits tenure from being granted to any employee who has not had satisfactory annual assessments for the past ten years.” The Governor said, “We must financially reward good teachers and expel those who are not. The more we reward excellent teachers, the more our teachers will be excellent. The more we tolerate ineffective teachers, the more our teachers will be ineffective. So, in the special session, I propose that teacher pay be tied to merit, not tenure. And I propose that teacher employment be tied to performance, not to just showing up.”
Personally, I don't know any teachers who "just show up." And if there are bad teachers, all administrators have to do is properly evaluate and document the employee's performance.
6. An initiative accompanying the Governor’s proposals includes one to gut collective bargaining rights of unions.
7. An initiative accompanying the Governor’s proposals includes one to change the rules to gain “permanent” status in the teaching profession (this mirrors the above SCAx11, sponsored by Runner).
8. An initiative accompanying the Governor’s proposals includes one to take away the teachers’ unions ability to use ANY money for political activity.
Analysis: The Governor and his colleagues are using a three pronged attack against educators.
1. demonize the profession
2. cut money to continue under funding the system, causing under performance, and leading to privatization
3. reduce the power of the unions and education coalition, the largest and strongest in the state
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