Efficacy and Adequacy

People seem to be forgetting the central conclusion of the education studies. California's schools need a serious infusion of cash AND reforms to how they operate, in order to provide a quality education for our students. You cannot have one without the other. Indeed, there is no way for it to legislatively work without having both.

Weintraub's column seems to forget that basic fact and focuses on the teacher's objection to reform without increased funding.

With new research suggesting California schools need a dose of reform to go along with any new money, the state's biggest teachers union -- the California Teachers Association -- will play a major role in deciding how far those changes will go, if they go anywhere at all.

And based on a conversation with the union's leaders this week, it sounds as if the CTA is going to be very skeptical, to put it mildly, about major changes in the way the schools do business.

He does quote Barbara Kerr, who spells out what exactly the union opposes and that is massive changes that do not come hand-in-hand with increased money.

CTA President Barbara Kerr said her 335,000-member union will fight any attempt to overhaul the schools that does not also provide more money at the same time. Kerr said she is "concerned" that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested last week that the reforms should come first, then the money.

"Efficacy and adequacy have to go together," Kerr said, using the education community's terms for better performance and more money. "What we have now is not adequate."

Kerr said the union is open to the idea of change, but she added: "Agreeing to what that change should be ... may be more difficult."

Money alone will not solve our schools problems, neither will operational changes. Heck, even cherry-picking a few ideas with some increased funding will not get the job done. The study said that our schools need a huge increase in funding AND some really serious reforms.

Politically, groups from the left and the right will shoot legislation down, if it only focuses on one side of the equation. As well they should, given the conclusions of the study. The reason why the existence of this study and its reports makes people so hopeful is that everyone has invested in the process. That buy-in should help transcend some of the typical problems that crop up when discussing education policy. The political and educational path to fixing our schools is to pass comprehensive changes. Anything less is doomed.

Given the high profile nature of the health care fight, it seems unlikely that a push for significant educational changes will occur this year. National politics will be at the forefront, with ESEA (aka No Child Left Behind) up for renewal. What comes out of that legislative debate will have a big impact on our policy discussions here in California.