A Feb. 24 confirmation hearing for State Board of Education appointee Rae Belisle was canceled in the Senate late last week. ACSA has been asking the Senate to vote no on the confirmation. Belisle is the first candidate for the SBE ACSA has actively opposed in its 39-year history as a non-partisan professional education association.
The ACSA Board of Directors voted to fight her confirmation at its May 2009 meeting. The board also voted to oppose the confirmation of appointee Jorge Lopez, operator for Oakland Charter Academy, who resigned from the SBE last week.
Of concern to ACSA is the lack of K-12 public school educator representation on the SBE and the preponderance of charter school advocacy.
Belisle is a former executive director of the SBE and current president and CEO of the advocacy group EdVoice. She has been serving on the board since her appointment by Gov. Schwarzenegger last year, but must now receive Senate confirmation to continue.
Her positions on issues ranging from Algebra 1 and testing, the needs of English language learners, implementation of NCLB flexibility and charter schools run counter to those of ACSA and other education organizations, including the California School Boards Association, which has also taken an oppose position on her confirmation.
In a letter to members of the Senate, ACSA President Chuck Weis and Executive Director Bob Wells state: "After carefully considering Ms. Belisle’s background, her perspective and approach to K-12 policy, and ACSA’s priority that the State Board has greater balance and more in-depth knowledge of the K-12 system, we came to consensus that Ms. Belisle is not the right candidate for this position."
Specific reasons ACSA cites for its opposition to Belisle’s confirmation include:
•State testing policy. Belisle has expressed belief that a multiple choice state testing model will suffice as the most effective way to assess student learning. She also voted in September 2009 to eliminate the fourth grade writing assessment, one of only two opportunities students have to demonstrate their writing skills under California’s STAR testing system. ACSA believes performance measures must be balanced and require evidence of students’ ability to reason, analyze and evaluate multiple sources of information, including a greater emphasis on writing.
•Algebra 1 testing mandate. ACSA believes allowing two tests in eighth grade in mathematics – one for students taking Algebra 1 and one for students taking an Algebra Readiness or General Mathematics course – is best for students and schools. Belisle supported the spring 2008 SBE decision that an Algebra 1 test be mandated for all eighth graders, pushing more students into Algebra 1 courses without consideration as to whether they have the skills and prior knowledge for success.
•English language development. ACSA has concerns that when asked directly in an ACSA interview whether she supported the SBE-approved English language development standards adopted in 1998-99, she would not commit to supporting them, despite that they are included in current K-8 ELA/ELD textbooks. She expressed concerns with providing time for English learners using materials in what she views as separate instruction. ACSA believes providing time for English learners to use ELD materials is not separate instruction, but instead provides the additional instructional time needed for success and improved student achievement.
• No Child Left Behind and the AB 312 Advisory Committee. ACSA supports the rights of students under the federal NCLB law to be tested in their native language if they have resided in the U.S. for less than one year. Belisle did not support this option while serving as SBE executive director and voted against the option as a member of the AB 312 Advisory Committee. For California this option is critical, given the large immigrant student population that must be assessed for both subject matter knowledge and language proficiency. This federal flexibility was ultimately recommended by the state-appointed AB 312 Advisory Committee, but rejected by the SBE.
• Charters schools and statewide benefit charters. During Belisle’s tenure as chair of the Advisory Committee on Charter Schools, ACSA differed on many agenda items, including Proposition 39 facility regulations and conflict of interest regulations. In March 2009, a charter petition, denied by the SBE based on lack of merit and ethnic balance, was approved the following day by Belisle and other board members because they had been told the charter would lose out on facility funds. When asked by leaders in the Legislature to postpone action on approval of a number of statewide benefit charters, the ACCS, under Belisle’s chairmanship, and the SBE ignored the request and approved three statewide charters with no notification to the impacted school districts.
In addition to these concerns, ACSA is very troubled by the lack of balance on the State Board of Education, in terms of understanding how small, medium and large school districts operate.
Of the nine current SBE members, not one is a credentialed administrator working in a non-charter school or school district or county office of education. Of those members, not one is a credentialed teacher currently teaching at any grade level. Not one member has ever managed a multi-million dollar K-12 district budget while adhering to rigid education codes.
None of the current members have negotiated collective bargaining contracts with classified and certificated staff or advised locally elected school board members how to make severe budget cuts, handed down from Sacramento, while retaining quality instruction. ACSA believes this experience is invaluable for SBE members as they make decisions affecting public schools.