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\n\t\tCourtesy of Alisha Kirby \/ CSBA\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tCourtesy of Alisha Kirby \/ CSBA\t\t<\/p>\n
Package of bills would set goals and hold state agencies accountable for helping districts improve<\/p>\n
Originally published by EdSource<\/a><\/p>\n Advocates and experts cite many factors behind a persistent student achievement gap: poverty, chronic absences and health challenges, poor instruction, a lack of teacher preparation, inadequate funding, bureaucratic intransigence and entrenched interests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The California School Boards Association cited another factor on Tuesday \u2014 state government itself.<\/p>\n In announcing a new legislative initiative called SOS for Student Achievement to close \u201cthe state accountability gap,\u201d the association faulted \u201cfragmented\u201d state policies, \u201cdiluted\u201d resources, overlapping authorities and new programs with piles of regulations as obstacles to student success.<\/p>\n \u201cSchool districts and county offices of education are expected to deliver results for students every day,\u201d said CSBA President Debra Schade. \u201cThe SOS for Student Achievement legislative package recognizes that the state must also be accountable for ensuring its own policies, programs and funding are aligned to support local efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n The disparities of students by race, ethnicity and family income in test scores and other indicators of student success, including meeting admission requirements for state universities, are collectively known as the achievement gap. It\u2019s been vast for decades, and since Covid-19, it has widened as rates of recovery for the most vulnerable students have lagged.<\/p>\n On the 2025 state Smarter Balanced test in math<\/a>, for example, 20% of Black students and 26% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared with 50% of White and 70% of Asian students \u2013 differences that remain essentially unchanged in a decade. On\u00a0the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 4th grade math tes<\/a>t,\u00a0 the 39-point difference in scores between California\u2019s income-disadvantaged and non-income-disadvantaged students was tied with Massachusetts for the widest gap in the nation.<\/p>\n What the bills would do<\/p>\n CSBA says its quartet of bills will force the state \u2014 the governor, legislators, county offices of education, the California Department of Education \u2014 to establish clear priorities, with annually measurable goals and to make it clear who, when and how districts will receive support. The purpose, the bills repeatedly say, is better \u201calignment\u201d and \u201ccoherence,\u201d partly by weeding out mandates superfluous to narrowing achievement gaps.<\/p>\n Two of the Assembly\u2019s education leaders, the new chair of the Assembly Education Committee, Darshana Patel<\/a>, D-San Diego, and her predecessor, Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, are introducing two of the four bills.<\/p>\n Assembly Bill 2225<\/a>, Patel\u2019s bill, would create a 15-member group, half from education groups like CSBA, employee unions and administrators, and half from legislative leaders and state departments, to write the state Closing the Achievement Gap Support and Operations Plan and submit it to the State Board of Education and Legislature by Dec. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n The plan would set metrics for agencies involved with student achievement \u2014 among them the State Board, the California Department of Education, the California Collaborative for Education Excellence \u2014 and determine how to respond when they come up short. It would also recommend how the governor and legislators can reduce unfunded mandates \u2014 requirements and regulations imposed on districts without accompanying resources \u2014 a measure that should especially please school board association members.<\/p>\n AB 2202<\/a>, Muratsuchi\u2019s bill, would create an independent body called Closing the Achievement Gap Commission, which would annually advise the State Board and Department of Education on what is and isn\u2019t working in districts for improving student performance. Its members would be state agency heads, representatives of small and big districts and employee groups.<\/p>\n Another bill, AB 2149<\/a>, would require the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office to annually recommend how the state could better meet the new closing-the-achievement-gap targets. The fourth would create a new State of the Achievement Gap Dashboard (AB 2514<\/a>) to measure the state\u2019s progress (presumably different from the multi-colored, often criticized California School Dashboard<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cAs a school board trustee, my budget reflects the priorities of our district,\u201d said Schade, who serves on the Solano Beach School District board. \u201cWe want the LAO to look at if closing the achievement gap is reflected in the state\u2019s proposed and final budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Deeply flawed school accountability system<\/p>\n In 2012, the Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown made addressing the achievement gap the focus of redesigning the state\u2019s funding and accountability system under the Local Control Funding Formula. It provides additional money for low-income students, English learners and other high-needs students and sets up a new system of support tied specifically to student groups with the lowest performance by a half-dozen measures.<\/p>\n But CSBA said the system of support is duplicative and disorganized, with widely varying effectiveness.<\/p>\n The current system imposes differentiated assistance on hundreds of school districts\u2019 lowest-performing student groups, usually foster children and students with disabilities. In most districts, Latino, Black and low-income children, comprising most students, aren\u2019t designated for assistance, although their performance in state math and English language arts is persistently well below proficient.<\/p>\n Districts\u2019 complaints about creeping mandates under the funding formula have grown louder in recent years. Gov. Newsom and the Legislature have used unexpected state revenue to phase in new programs at the same time \u2014 transitional kindergarten, expanded after-school learning and community schools without detailed implementation plans.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n CSBA said the new programs, like a requirement to buy electric buses, have diverted energy from focusing on addressing the achievement gap.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have unfunded mandates and initiatives that are providing a tremendous amount of noise and barriers for our local school districts and county offices that really have caused some challenges,\u201d said Schade.<\/p>\n Eric Premack, executive director of the Charter Schools Development Center in Sacramento, agrees with CSBA \u2014 to a point.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m struck by the belief that reform is something that the state can impose on thousands of schools by edict and mandate.\u00a0Thus, I\u2019m a bit sympathetic with CSBA,\u201d he said in an email.\u00a0 \u201cTheir bill, however, is more about preserving school districts\u2019 and school boards\u2019 autonomy and exclusivity than it is about changing the system to encourage or ensure improvement in services to students\/families.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s office declined immediate comment on CSBA\u2019s initiative, but earlier this year, the governor cited some of the same flaws in the structure of California\u2019s oversight and support. He is proposing to shift school management from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to a new Commissioner of Education under the governor\u2019s and State Board\u2019s control.<\/p>\n Also, the State Board is considering fully revising the system of differentiated support for low-performing districts and is expected to vote on it in May.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n CSBA has joined many other advocacy and school management groups in endorsing Newsom\u2019s proposal, which would go into effect after Newsom\u2019s term ends. CSBA Chief of Communications Troy Flint said that the proposal complements CSBA\u2019s initiative but doesn\u2019t go far enough for \u201ca complete reformation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeyond the first flurry of attention, we want continued involvement as partners, with ongoing evaluations, as systems are changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Follow the Vanguard on Social Media \u2013 X<\/a>, Instagram <\/a>and Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0 Subscribe <\/a>the Vanguard News letters.\u00a0 To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org\/donate<\/a> or give directly through ActBlue<\/a>.\u00a0 Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.<\/p>\n Categories: Breaking News<\/a> Education<\/a> State of California<\/a>