Assembly Committee Action Hurts Thousands of California School Children
SACRAMENTO: The Assembly Appropriations Committee took action this week that will throw the educational futures of thousands of children into doubt, and will lead to teacher and school support staff layoffs and school district bankruptcies across California. The decision by committee leadership to hold SB 1432 and not allow it to move forward will put an end to the successful 24-year old District of Choice program that is used by thousands of students.
The District of Choice program fosters public school choice by allowing parents to transfer their children to participating school districts without a transfer agreement. Thousands of children and parents take advantage of choosing the district that fits them best, and numerous school districts across California identify themselves as District of Choice schools.
“Eliminating this program virtually overnight will be catastrophic for the Walnut Valley Unified School District,” said Michael R. Hodson, Assistant Superintendent at Walnut Valley USD. “We will lose over $28 million in revenue, which represents about 23 percent of our overall budget. We will lose over 3400 students, be forced to lay off 136 full-time teachers and close two elementary schools, one middle school and at least one of our two high schools. This means our district will quite likely fall into state receivership.”
Senator Bob Huff (R-San Dimas) is the author of SB 1432 and a champion of school reform and student choice in schools. He has carried legislation to reauthorize the District of Choice program three times, and introduced SB 1432 earlier this year following a fact-finding report issued by California’s non-partisan, independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). Opponents of the District of Choice program have said that many Chinese parents and their children take advantage of the program to attend top rated school districts like Walnut Valley Unified, negatively upsetting the racial balance and educational scores of the schools they leave. They also say that Districts of Choice “cherry pick” the best students. The non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s report said just the opposite. The report found that District of Choice has been overwhelmingly positive for schools and students, as well as districts that lose or gain students through the transfer process. The LAO report recommended that the program not only be extended, but also expanded to include more students.
The future of nearly 50 school districts across the state have been thrown into doubt and thousands of California children have just been denied the best public education we can give to them with no valid reasoning offered,” said Senator Huff. “My bill, SB 1432, was killed in committee. Unless we get the Assembly Democratic Leadership behind us and find another means to extend this program in the remaining two weeks of the legislative session, this will be a partisan, catastrophic ending next year of a very successful school program.
Thousands of frustrated California parents who jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of choosing the school that best fits the educational needs of their children are flooding the State Capitol with phone calls, emails and letters.
“The decision to hold this bill is going to hurt my children, said Cecil Hernandez, a District of Choice father of four at Big Creek Elementary School in Fresno County. “Why is someone playing politics with the education my children receive? As an immigrant to this country, I am saddened that my kids can’t go to a school that suits them best. I thought this was the land of opportunity, not zip codes.”
