Vantage Point: Big changes still needed in state governance
By:
Frank Pugh
Published: July 1, 2010
One year ago this month, I had the privilege of presiding over the first day of a joint summit hosted by CSBA, the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties. Called “We Are California,” the summit endeavored to build momentum for public advocacy at the grassroots level—led by school board members, county supervisors and members of city councils—to create the change needed in California to ensure that local elected officials have the tools they need in order to meet the needs of their diverse communities.
A year ago, the possibilities seemed endless, and there was reason for great optimism. The Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored public policy advocacy organization for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, was preparing initiatives that would place the question on the state ballot of whether California should convene a constitutional convention. California Forward, a public advocacy group seeking to foster a more responsive, representative and cost-effective government, was moving forward with a separate effort on legislation to streamline and improve the state budget process. Whether one preferred the radical approach of a convention or the incremental approach of legislation, there was great hope that 2010 would become a year of true reform at the state level.
A year later, I think the summit sponsors would all agree that things have moved much more slowly than we had hoped and expected. The concept of a constitutional convention, though not entirely dead, appears to have fallen prey to the entrenched interests of a system where the very thought of bringing sanity to the state’s run-amok initiative process had signature gatherers running for the hills. And while California Forward continues to fight the good fight, at this juncture it seems unlikely that we’ll see their efforts result in anything resembling substantive change this year.
This has been an ongoing source of frustration for me, because I think that we’re going to have to see some big changes at the state level in order for our school finance lawsuit to be truly successful. Don’t forget, having the court declare the state’s current system of financing schools to be unconstitutional is only half the battle. Ultimately, we may learn that it was the easy part of the battle. As school leaders, we’re prepared to do our part to make changes at the local level to benefit our students. But until our state leaders step up to the plate with a willingness to perform a similar self-examination, this could all end up being an exercise in futility.
And that is why CSBA, with its partners at the League of California Cities and CSAC, plans to step up its efforts to affect such change at the state level. At our recent board meeting of the Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership, there was widespread agreement that to do so is essential to our very survival. In the months to come, we may be calling on many of you to lend a hand to this work. Stay tuned!