TL;DR: Failing elementary schools would be subject to At Will employment until they reached a B- (80%) performing at grade level, and high schools would follow a universal charter model.

Only about a third of California’s students are performing at grade level, and some districts like Vallejo it is as low as 17%. We are short changing a generation and failing to prepare California’s kids for the economy of the future. The best time for reform would have been decades ago, the second best time is now.

The role of schools in society is three fold, to teach foundational skills, pass on the culture, and build community. But they receive failing grades on all of those metrics. We a fractured society where even freshmen at our universities cannot do basic math.

We must reform our education system.

The answer is not money. California is required to spend 40% of the state budget on education and even with more money thrown at the problem, outcomes get worse every year. Schools need to be held to standards, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction must be empowered to enforce those standards.

Education can be broken into two parts, kindergarten through 8th grade and 9th through 12th grade, elementary and high school.

For our Elementary schools, enrollment should be geographically based. The purpose of that is to build a community and an identity around the neighborhood. The kids who learn together come home and play together. However, that creates a problem. Changing schools would require moving, and that is not possible for every family.

In order to hold schools to standard, if the elementary school is below 60% performance, they are a failing school, everyone becomes At Will and the Superintendent of Public Instruction get an opportunity for on the ground reform. If the problem is a teacher who isn’t right for the job, or a principle who spends more time on her event planning business than leading her school, they can be removed, and someone else put in their place. The second cut off would be at 80%, and would lead to a one year probation. If the school falls below that, they become a candidate for reform. Protecting kids is more important than protecting individual jobs. The hope is after enough cycles all schools in California would be getting a B- or better.

High schools students are becoming young adults and developing a sense of themselves. The goal in high school is to build on the foundational learning and begin to gain specialized skills. Instead of geographically determined enrollment, high schools would follow a universal charter model. This would be a dollars follow the student model with schools accredited by the Superintendent of Pubic Instruction.

Students would be allowed to choose a school that matches their needs and interests across the state. If your student wanted to commute to school in San Diego from Vallejo nothing in the system should stop you, but that’s an early morning. Instead of the Superintendent of Public Instruction being the agent of reform, schools would be subject to market forces. If they can’t attract students then they have to close. This puts the power into the hands of parents and their students to find the right place for them.

High schools, regardless of their focus, would be required to provide the A-G classwork and participate a High School Exit Exam based on those A-G subjects. The hope is that the exit exam can be used instead of the ACT/SAT for UC and CSU admissions. The goal being to identify high performing students even if they were never encouraged to think about a college education and ensure they have the prerequisite classes to apply.