EDUCATIONALLY SPEAKING -- Gay Geiser-Sandoval

It is my policy to refrain from writing about issues that have been

thoroughly covered in the Daily Pilot already. However, there is one

aspect of the Home Ranch project that I haven’t seen mentioned. A

resident is proposing that city funds from the project, should it get

approved, be earmarked specifically for improving schools, thus raising

Stanford 9 scores. In other words, with most developments, funds from

sales taxes that flow to the city go directly into the city’s general

funds, where they may be spent each year according to budget proposals

and City Council approval.

If this proposal were to be adopted, a certain portion of that money

would have to be used to bolster education. Some Costa Mesa schools have

partnered with nonprofit and religious groups to help students outside of

the classroom. Perhaps money earmarked from the Home Ranch taxes could go

to more after-school programs funded by the city of Costa Mesa.

There are positives to this proposal. The Costa Mesa City Council has

already expressed its desire to partner with the school district to work

with the city’s kids. This would supply a way to fund that desire without

taking money away from its current uses. The downside is that money from

the Home Ranch project would not be available for a year or two, so

essentially any efforts to affect the lives of Costa Mesa kids

immediately might be put on hold. The negative to earmarking those funds

for education is that the city might not be able to meet a more immediate

need that it faces in the future. Shouldn’t the city be able to shift

funds according to that year’s priorities? On the other hand, to make

education work, doesn’t it have to remain a priority from year to year?

As I have explained in other columns, my faith in the Stanford 9

tests’ overall school scores is shaky. For instance, at one Costa Mesa

secondary school, while the overall school score did not improve that

much, the scores for non-Hispanic white students increased by 44 points.

So, should these teachers be congratulated or chastised? Since Stanford 9

test scores, which become the basis for API numbers, now affect

residential home prices, those scores are now a city problem. Maybe city

government should be involved in the solution.

Here is the solution I would like to propose as a pilot program for

one year. At the secondary school level, the biggest determining factor

for success, in my opinion, is student motivation. Some kids, with almost

no money or parent support, are great successes, while all of the parent

support in the world can’t make a student successful in school if that

student doesn’t try. That is where teachers have an uphill battle. If a

student doesn’t come to class or do his work, how or why do we hold a

teacher responsible?

I think kids need a more immediate reward for getting to class on time

and doing their work. Saying that they will get a better job 10 years

down the line to a 14-year-old is asking them to really buy into delayed

gratification. My proposal is to divert money spent on consultants for a

year, and give a dollar to each high school student in Costa Mesa city

schools who make it on time to each class that day and turn in all of

their classwork and homework. The money should be distributed once a week

from a central location so that the reward can be immediately linked to

the behavior. Teachers could send information about completed work via

their classroom computer along with their attendance records. Teachers

should receive some compensation for this additional record keeping. The

most it would cost would be $170 a year per student in reward money, plus

some money for record keeping and reward distribution. It would be even

better if the school had a student bank where students could bank some or

all of that reward money for college or prom.

The school district spends thousands of dollars each year in

consultants and programs that don’t get at the heart of the problem,

which is student motivation. If students went to school and did all of

their work, I believe you would see a dramatic increase in test scores

and work ethic. The price tag for this project would be at the most

$400,000 a year for both city schools and probably close to half that

much. A successful student usually pays taxes as an adult and doesn’t

commit crime. This reward money might be returned to the community a

hundredfold in the future. Wouldn’t you like to see a coalition of Costa

Mesa businesses give this pilot program a try? If it works, let the city

and school district continue funding it.

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs

Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .