June 1, 2007

Cortese and constituents take annual bus trip to state legislature

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

On May 24, Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and 27 of his constituents and staff boarded a bus for a two-hour trip to Sacramento.

As was the case in past years, the group went to the state capital to discuss a host of issues with a number of assembly members, senators and/or their staff.

Dave Cortese took 27 staff members and constituents to Sacramento to speak with various members of the state assembly and senate on a variety of subjects. During the one-day trip, delegation members questioned the legislators about schools, education and nutrition.

The trip was the fifth time in as many years. The group developed 10 issues to discuss with the assembly members, senators and staffers with whom they had scheduled appointments.

Of the top 10 issues, seven dealt with or included education, and several—if not all—referred to money.

The delegation first met with Lori Easterling of the California Teachers’ Association. That was followed by morning meetings set with Assembly member Jim Beall, Senator Elaine Alquist, Assembly member Joe Coto and staffer Mike Welch.

After lunch, the group met with Shirley Kim from Assembly member Alberto Rorrico’s office, Assembly member Sally Lieber, a representative from Senator Ellen Corbett’s office and with Assembly members John Laird, Ira Ruskin and Anna Cabellero.

Education issues
Among the education topics discussed were teacher retention, vocational education, Prop 13, physical education, after school programs, lottery money, nutrition and Latino education.

The group also discussed CTA recommendations to the Governor with Easterling.

Easterling said the Governor offered two important proposals “funding the 4.53 percent COLA (cost of living adjustment) for all kindergarten through grade 12 education programs and for beginning to address the deficit in funding for hourly supplemental instruction programs.”

“The CTA strongly recommends that the legislature protect the following high priority funding proposed by the Governor in the May Revision; home to school transportation, higher COLA, special education and school meals/child nutrition.”

Teacher retention
The group, which included a number of educators, also discussed concerns with state officials about teacher retention. The need for highly-qualified teachers is complicated by the fact that the state’s public schools will require 100,000 new teachers over the next five years, according to Cortese’s District 8 office. The lack of qualified teachers is most evident in math, science and special education.

In addition, the group asked legislators about the May Revision proposing the $7.5 million Prop 98 General Fund for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to fund various incentives for existing credentialed teachers in other subject areas to become authorized to teach science and math.

Finally, the group discussed with legislators what the state is doing to retain San Jose area teachers.

Prop 13
The group also discussed the effects of Prop 13.

Proposition 13 placed a cap on property tax rates, reduced funds for public schools, libraries and other city services. It also served to drive down the state’s public schools from their No. 1 national ranking of student achievement in the 1960s, to 49th in a number of current achievement surveys, according to the District 8 office.

Prop 13 also affected safety services in some areas, chopping funds for police and fire departments. In turn, the state developed a transfer system from state income taxes to cities to partially make up for the shortfall.

When the state’s lottery was established, it was done to provide supplemental funding to California public education from kindergarten through higher education. Funds for public education from kindergarten through grade 12 are distributed based on average daily attendance. Unrestricted funds are for student education, not for property acquisition, construction, research or non-instructional purposes.

Vocational education
The group asked Bay Area legislators if it was possible to start vocational education in middle schools, instead of at the high school and college levels.

Physical education is another area in which California schools appear to have trouble. Some schools, according to the group, struggle to provide students with a specified number of instructional minutes and have limited resources to implement comprehensive, standards-based instructional programs.

This method would help stymie youth obesity as would providing PE programs after school, the group said.

Last summer, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state budget, which provides $550 million in state funds for after school programs.

Concerns over Latinos in education were another major point. While California enrolled 36 percent of all Latinos in higher education during 2002-03, Latinos made up 24 percent of enrollment at California colleges and university. The majority of these students in higher education are enrolled in community colleges, the group noted.

California Latinos are less likely to receive federal aid than those in other states or nationally, the group said. Less than one-third of California Latinos received federal aid to pay for college; nationally half of Latinos receive federal aid.

The group also questioned legislators about two new bills - AB2434, which deals with preparation for the high school exit exam, and AB1988, which would provide staff development for English language learners. Eighty percent of California teachers teach more than 1.6 million English language learners.

Other areas of concern were nutrition, cuts in the California Fresh Start Program, capturing the fiscal benefits of food stamps, improving the quality of school meals and making modest, but necessary improvements to the state’s Healthy Purchase Pilot.