Listen to Gov., stop excusing school failures

James Jones

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is correct, we need to rethink our schools

and quit listening to the same, old, tired excuses for failure.

It always amazes me, when the school scores are announced, how

many people are willing to stand up and defend the failure. The

reason that we are on our way to 800 is because of something called

the Scale Calibration Factor. Yes, it adjusts your school’s scores in

a way that would make an Enron accountant proud.

The California Department of Education publishes a 64-page book

that explains the API scores. On page 17 it clearly states; “The SCF

[Scale Calibration Factor] does not allow for year to year

comparisons of school/district APIs.”

Simply translated, if your scores are going up year to year, it

does not mean your school is doing better. So the only way you know

how your school is doing is to look at the state ranking.

To find your State ranking go to the California Department of

Education website. I think you have to agree that Newport-Mesa is

falling behind. Whether you are at Anderson and have fallen from 14th

in the state to 292nd in the state or at Pomona, which has dropped

from the 39th percentile to the fifth percentile in the state, we

have a major problem. So when we reward failure and give the district

more money when it fails, we end up with the above results.

So let us eliminate some of the myths. Should our teachers be paid

more? Yes, we have increased the average pay in our district by 30%

since 1999. Our teacher pay and benefits are among the best in our

surrounding communities.

Is the No Child left Behind Act too aggressive? We now have nine

schools that have fallen 10% or more and 10 schools performing below

the median.

Is it the demographic? No, the Costa Mesa demographic has actually

improved and has never been close to being like, say, a coal-mining

town in the Appalachian Mountains.

To fix our schools, we need to listen to our adult English-learner

governor.

Second, we need to respect the parents and taxpayers who are

trying to allow their children to achieve and be all that they can

be. They are good parents, not elitist.

Third, when we find a school board member who gets it, we should

not allow the teachers union to fund the campaign against them.

The governor is right: We need to take our state back from union

control and return the rights of the taxpayers.

* JAMES JONES is a Costa Mesa resident.