La Prensa San Diego, September 3, 1999

California's current crop of legislators, having just returned from summer recess, agree that the state's public schools are not educating students. But instead of enacting desperately needed reforms, lawmakers are trying to expand schools' mission, a move that will both squander precious time and waste education dollars.

For example, Assembly Bill 1363, by Assembly member Susan Davis (D-San Diego), mandates the creation of school health centers, a misuse of Proposition 98 funds. These clinics would become providers under the Healthy Start Program, which already uses $49 million of Proposition 98 funds.

Turning schools into HMOs may make the legislators feel good about themselves, but it disregards the educational needs of students in a state ranked at the bottom of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test.

The solution of the ruling Democrats is to encumber schools and teachers with new regulations that consume more time on un-tested programs and devote less time to the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics. These measures are at odds with the primary mission of schools and teachers.

"As elementary school teachers, our primary mission is to make children literate," says Nancy Ichinaga, principal of Bennett-Kew Elementary School. She has successfully taken her school from being one of the lowest performing in Los Angeles County to one of the highest, by teaching children the basics and giving them the academic resources to graduate from high school and to be prepared for higher education. Yet, proposed bills like Assembly Bill 558, by Hannah Beth Jackson (D-Los Olivos), would steal valuable classroom time away from teaching the basics.

This bill mandates the instruction of domestic violence prevention education throughout all public schools in California. And while the intent of the bill is noble, it does not address the problem that California students are graduating from high school without knowing how to read and write. When 80 percent of youth convicted of crimes are functionally illiterate, it seems an ironic twist to take money away from solving the fundamental problem of youth illiteracy, which contributes to crime and domestic violence.

Jackson's bill is currently awaiting a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. Another measure that would short-change students in their educational pursuit of even the most basic skills is Senate Bill 305 by Senator John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) requiring "parenting education" for all students grades 9-12.

These are precisely the years when students should be honing their skills in preparation for higher education. Classroom hours in high school are too few already, and this bill would transfer even more time from the subjects students need to compete in our high-tech economy to programs with dubious results, at best. It has been proven that teaching students basic skills will empower them to weather the storms of both academic and private life.

A recent study by Senior Research Analyst for the United States Department of Education, Clifford Adelman, underscores the importance of an intense academic course of study by demonstrating that a highly rigorous curriculum is the greatest predictor of future collegiate success. The study debunks the myth that socio-economic status (SES) is the best indicator of success by showing that students from the lowest SES, but with the most academically intense classroom settings, earn bachelor's degrees at a higher rate than the majority of students from a high SES.

Adelman's study does not share the apparent belief of some California legislators that health clinics, domestic violence prevention, and parenting education are integral academic rigor.

California's educational system remains a national embarrassment. Returning legislators should understand that to burden it with more mandates when it is not performing its primary mission is a prescription for continued failure. The state's children deserve better.

Gwynne Coburn, formerly of Fresno, is a Public Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute's Center for School Reform in Sacramento.