Executive Director's note: Critical turning point for education in California
By:
Vernon M. BillySpring 2014
This year we commemorate some major milestones that greatly impacted education and society in the U.S., including the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. While we look back to measure the progress and effect of those initiatives, we’re in the midst of implementing the landmark Local Control Funding Formula in California that could potentially change our educational landscape, helping to close the achievement gap and achieve educational equality.
The Brown v. Board decision represented the notion that education has the opportunity to be the “great equalizer,” providing a level playing field for all students no matter their race or socioeconomic background. The decision declares that public education is the foundation of good citizenship and the principal instrument that prepares children for success in life and work—making access to good schools “a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”
Looking back over the intervening half century or so, we can plainly see that the dreams launched by Brown were never fully realized. Over the last 60 years, California has matured and changed in countless ways. Today, more than one in five children in California lives in poverty and one-quarter of K-12 students are English learners. Students from low-income families, African-Americans, Latinos and English learners are most likely to score lower than their peers on standardized tests. The same barriers that impacted students more than 60 years ago continue to affect today’s youth.
LCFF represents a historic shift in how California schools are funded and provides an opportunity to focus on improving educational outcomes and closing achievement gaps for some of the state’s most underserved students, including foster youth, low-income students and English learners. It provides some flexibility for school districts to invest and develop programs and resources to target underserved student populations to achieve success.
In short, the lesson from history is that education advocates who believe every child can learn must act to ensure that they have a chance to succeed.
In this issue of California Schools, Dr. Donald Gill, superintendent of the Antioch Unified School District, echoes this call to action, stating that “we as an educational system are failing to fully address the academic and behavioral needs of African-American male students. While this problem is not unique to Antioch alone, it doesn’t absolve us as an education system and, just as importantly, as a community from taking all the necessary steps to eradicate the inequity.”
Likewise, in our feature article Michael Lin, superintendent in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, writes that “ultimately the connection between Brown and LCFF is simple: both aimed to eliminate the achievement gap. Both Brown and LCFF are based on the premise that education is the fundamental vehicle to attain equity.”
The path from Brown to LCFF goes through our local school boards. Just as our forefathers had the opportunity to shape our country, today we are faced with the opportunity to reshape the educational landscape.
What will you and your governance team do with this moment? It’s a critical question because our actions today—or lack thereof—will ultimately define our legacy tomorrow. The responsibility is ours. Will we take the difficult path and lead in a way that wisely invests in the service of all children? Will we work collaboratively to identify and adopt practices and programs that improve student outcomes and close the achievement gap? Or will we choose the easy path, play it safe and do the bare minimum?
I believe we must lead in a way that wisely uses the investment provided by the people of California to serve all children. Make no mistake: 2014 marks a time of great change and we are headed into the unknown. I am hopeful that when we emerge from this uncertainty we will have realized “a more perfect union” where California schools are providing a higher-quality education for all of its 6 million students so they can become successful and productive citizens in the 21st century. CS