The Education Coalition has formed an internal work group to address the issue of adequate resources and governance reforms. The group will be focusing on designing a list of shared principles for its advocacy work in the Capitol.
“The coalition voice is a strong one,” said ACSA Assistant Executive Director Karen Stapf Walters. “Developing a list of guiding principles will be very helpful as we begin to share our message with legislators and policymakers and obtaining adequate resources in the coming year.”
The group is focusing on five main issue areas, including finance, governance, accountability, data and high quality staff.
Meanwhile, ACSA has released a number of talking points about efficiency, equity and adequate funding. These will tie in to the Education Coalition’s efforts to develop guiding principles that all coalition organizations agree upon. The talking points include:
• Any meaningful reforms in our public education system must be accompanied by a substantial investment to help students meet the high academic standards and goals we have for them.
• Resources should be directed to schools, districts and educators so they have the resources they need to improve student learning.
• Investing in school leadership must also be a priority as leadership is the second highest contributing factor to student learning.
• California has the most rigorous academic standards in the country.
• California’s K-12 spending is below the national average, 43rd in the nation. Most of the country spends 30 percent more than California.
• California has some of the largest class sizes in the country.
• Not all students cost the same to reach the same achievement level. More funds need to be spent to help those students meet the standards we have set.
• Among schools that serve a high proportion of students in poverty, even the most successful schools rarely meet state achievement goals.
• Various regions have different costs. This includes cost of living, number of available jobs, lack of qualified applicants, lack of college graduates, etc.
• Increased funding without governance reforms will not work, just as governance reforms without additional funding won’t work.