Romero Leads California to Race to the Top
January 7, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bill Lucia - 916/233-8508
Steve O'Mara - 415/250-6876
Governor Signs Historic Education Reform Legislation to help CA Compete for $700 Million
(Sacramento, CA)-- EdVoice applauds Senator Gloria Romero, Senate Pro Tempore Steinberg, Speaker Bass, the Governor and the courageous legislators on both sides of the aisle for putting politics aside to do what's best for kids and fair for adults. Senator Gloria Romero's tireless effort to push California to boldly Race to the Top came to fruition today with the Governor's signature on a bi-partisan package of education reform. The two bills, SB 5X 1 and SB 5X 4, enable California to compete for a share of the $4.3 billion federal Race to the Top program.
"Senator Romero has made it clear she’s a champion for California kids," explained Rae Belisle, EdVoice CEO and State Board of Education Member. "It took courage to buck the status quo and give parents real power to drive change in their own neighborhood school and also have the choice to enroll in a higher performing public school in another school district. Senator Gloria Romero, the Governor and leadership in the Senate and Assembly deserve a tremendous amount of respect for this bold action."
"For too long, low-income parents have been disenfranchised when it comes to a say in their children’s education," said Belisle. SB 5X 4 creates a parent trigger, which allows a majority of parents at a persistently failing school to stay put and help fix their neighborhood school by signing a petition that requires real change. With this measure, the local school district has to either adopt the parents’ proposal or indicate in writing which specific real reform efforts they will implement to change the cycle of chronic failure.
Further, the bill allows parents with kids in the lowest performing 1,000 schools in the state to choose to enroll in a better public school outside of the district. "Affluent families have enjoyed choice for decades, they simply buy a house in a neighborhood with a better performing school," explained Belisle. "Senator Romero fought so that poor and working class kids could have the same opportunity to enroll in a higher performing public school, even if the better public school happens to be in another school district."
The Federal Race to the Top Program allows states to compete for a share of $4.3 billion in federal funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Innovative reform such as the open enrollment and parent trigger are seen as key components of a competitive application, which proposes bold steps to improve student achievement and strengthen California’s case in securing up to $700 million.
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