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Governor signs Race To The Top reforms for public schools
Governor Schwarzenegger and other education officials sign significant reforms into law meant to improve chronically low performing schools.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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Governor signs Race To The Top reforms for public schools
Governor signs Race To The Top reforms for public schools
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law at an elementary school in Compton and promised it would turn around low-performing public schools.
The new law will allow education officials — and parents if they petition — to reorganize a low-performing school by replacing principals and teachers. The law will also allow parents to choose other schools, even outside their district, if the school their children attend doesn’t improve.
Teachers’ unions waged a strong fight against the legislation.
State Senator Gloria Romero said she’s pleased the parents and their allies won this battle. "It is a period of transition. I look forward to working with the California Teachers Association to ensure that we have the reforms that we need. The teachers are critical. They are the leaders in their classroom so we will need to have their participation."
California still must negotiate with teachers’ unions over one reform in the bill — teacher evaluations based on student performance. The federal government’s holding out the carrot of billions of dollars for education. To compete for the money the feds require public school districts to overhaul struggling schools.
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