California’s Policymaking Reaction to the Race to the Top Priorities

Since the release of the Race to the Top grant priorities in late July, states across the country have been scrambling to ensure their eligibility for their share of the $4.35 billion in federal funds to encourage innovation in education reform. Several states, including California, Nevada, Wisconsin, New York, Alaska, Missouri, and Texas, were immediately identified as ineligible for the program due to student data “fire walls” or unwillingness to participate in the common standards process. But California’s Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is unwilling to let as much as $500 million slip through his fingers. On August 20^th he called a special session of the legislature to consider a bill that would immediately enact sweeping changes to the state’s education system and remove any barriers to the Race to the Top funds. Below, we discuss details of the proposed California bill.

The bill includes six major changes to existing California education law:

• Allow California’s student level achievement data to be linked to the state’s teacher data for the purposes of determining teacher compensation, promotion, and placement, and provide a method for measuring teacher performance;
• Make linking education data systems a larger priority for the state and speed up the timeline in which such a data system would be available;
• Remove any existing limitations on the number of charter schools allowed in the state;
• Enact the Open Enrollment Act, allowing students in low-performing schools to transfer to higher performing schools in other school districts based on specified standards of acceptance;
• Require the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit to the State Board for approval criteria and conditions for identifying low-performing schools in the state. Once approved, those criteria must be used to annually identify the bottom 5 percent of low-performing schools. Students and parents at these schools must be identified of the school’s low performing status. All identified schools must be directed to adopt one of three federally approved school restructuring actions; and
• Expand the data elements required in the state’s student longitudinal database to comply with those identified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In what appears to be tricky manipulation of the already tenuous budget situation in California, the bill provides no appropriations for any of these efforts, but does allow for state-funded reimbursements for any costs incurred during implementation. Undoubtedly, creating a dynamic and useful student longitudinal data system is an expensive feat, as is bringing on staff with the knowledge and skills to link student and teacher data. Although the bill explicitly states that the state can use federal funds to enact several of the provisions, we wonder if that will be enough to cover all expenses.

As a whole, the bill Governor Schwarzenegger submitted is a near replica of the priorities outlined by the Race to the Top priorities. It eliminates the student data “fire wall” and removes any arbitrary caps to charter schools. Additionally, it puts the state in a good position to dramatically improve the capabilities of its existing student longitudinal data system and puts the state directly in line with federal methods for school improvement and restructuring. In fact, it seems clear that the Obama Administration has paved the way for these changes which have received vehement opposition from a variety of California stakeholders in the past.

In many ways, the California school reform legislation can be construed as a shrewd attempt to curry favor with an administration that is positioned to hand out significant funds to a struggling state. But it also represents a shift from California’s typically status quo education environment that would have left the state ineligible for Race to the Top monies. In fact, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell stated during a webinar that he would be embarrassed if California were to receive any funds given the state of its education data system.

But Governor Schwarzenegger cannot be faulted for his desire to win some of the Race to the Top funds. Given the state’s fiscal troubles, $500 million could certainly do some good. But passing this legislation will not be easy – the teachers unions, who are against the use of student data for teacher performance and pay decisions, are already lined up in opposition and time and money are not on his side.