California Districts Facing Penalties

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

L.A. Unified warned that it falls short of state standards
Along with 98 other districts, it faces penalties under No Child Left Behind.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 29, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-schools29nov29,1,1622539.story?coll=la-news-learning&ctrack=1&cset=true

The California Department of Education has alerted 99 school 
districts, including Los Angeles Unified, that they are in danger of 
being abolished, taken over or stripped of administrators and schools 
under their jurisdiction. But whether these and other harsh measures 
will come to pass is questionable at best.

Other districts that were informed that they face sanctions for 
failing to improve test scores for all students include Berkeley 
Unified, Montebello Unified, Pomona Unified, Santa Ana Unified, 
Antelope Valley Joint Union, Centinela Valley Union, Santa Barbara 
Elementary and Lennox Elementary.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, state officials have not 
adopted severe punishments against school districts, and they appear 
reluctant now.

But their authority to do so became sweeping this fall in the wake of 
the most recent results on state standardized tests.

For the first time, school districts that continue to fall short of 
academic benchmarks are exposed to severe measures, and federal law 
requires the state in the next few months to take some action.

Los Angeles school Supt. David L. Brewer armed himself with the 
state's written notification recently to defend himself against 
parents who were upset over his failure to consult with them before 
announcing his latest reform plan. He said the state's letter 
explained the urgency behind his actions.

"They can remove all of us," Brewer said referring to himself, his 
staff and the elected school board. And they could withhold funding: 
"I don't want them to mess with my money."

Among other actions, the state board also could authorize student 
transfers outside a district or break up a large school system.

The state board is scheduled to deliberate on what to do with L.A. 
Unified at its January meeting. And under federal law, it must adopt 
one or more specific options, all of which sound potentially extreme, 
and not only to officials in Los Angeles.

"A number of those sanctions could be very detrimental," said Brett 
Neal, director of school improvement for Antelope Valley.

Antelope Valley met 32 of 34 mandated goals, missing the mark on the 
academic proficiency of its disabled students as well as their 
participation rate on tests.

As a result, the district could not shed the unwanted label of being 
in so-called program improvement status.

"When you say a district is in program improvement, you have all 
kinds of ideas about what's not working," Neal said. "On the 
contrary, our district has grown academically" -- a message the 
district is trying to get out.

Brewer used the ostensibly disastrous news in a novel way: to get the 
upper hand with parent representatives at a late October meeting.

But down the line, should he -- and other superintendents -- be worried?

"We're getting a lot of calls," said Wendy Harris, assistant 
superintendent of the Department of Education. "There's a lot of 
angst out there. . . . Some of these options are very draconian and 
maybe not even doable under state law. I don't know how you abolish a district.

"We're trying to find a way to meet federal law that works within the 
California context and doesn't unravel the positive growth that 
districts have made," she said.

The president of the state Board of Education referred to the 
sanction alternatives as "the seven deadly cures." Kenneth Noonan, a 
former Oceanside Unified superintendent, also said he wants to get 
"input from each of the 99 districts to tell us what it is you need."

On measures used to calculate the federal standard of "adequate 
yearly progress," L.A. Unified passed muster in 43 of 46 categories.

L.A. Unified, the nation's second-largest district, fell short on its 
graduation rate and in two English language arts categories: English 
learners and disabled students.

State officials insist they don't have nearly the resources to step 
in and take control. In the past, the state has appointed its own 
administrators to run only school systems facing imminent bankruptcy. 
An exception was Compton Unified, where the state took charge for 
eight years through legislation characterizing the district as both 
educationally and financially bankrupt.

Critics have faulted the state's accountability system from both 
directions: Some say there are no meaningful sanctions; others say 
the state labels schools as failures without giving them sufficient 
means to improve.

Actions against low-performing school districts are "the part of No 
Child Left Behind that almost no one is paying attention to," said 
Chester E. Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 
based in Washington, D.C., which funds education research and 
supports charter schools.

"It is close to being a joke," he added, addressing a recent 
conference of educators. "I don't know if there is the political will 
or policy leverage" to use the sanctions.

The ultimate federal sanction under the No Child Left Behind law is 
withholding money from a state or school district, a rare tactic. The 
U.S. Department of Education could cite only one example: The 
department once penalized Texas for being late in delivering test 
results for schools.

Despite the lack of federal enforcement, "states are beginning to 
feel a little overwhelmed" at the high number of perpetually 
low-achieving schools and school districts, said Raymond Simon, 
deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Bush administration officials say they are open to some revisions in 
No Child Left Behind. An amended law, for example, could make helpful 
distinctions between schools and districts that fell just short of 
testing targets "for relatively minor infractions" and those "that 
continually miss year after year," Simon said.

howard.blume@latimes.com


George Sheridan