Bill Cirone: Special Legislative Session Needed on Education

It's an important first step in making California eligible for new federal funding

By Bill Cirone | Published on 08.26.2009

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken an important step in calling for a special legislative session to address school accountability measures that will satisfy requirements for new federal education dollars. We salute those efforts.

Bill Cirone
Bill Cirone

For several decades, California has been in a perpetual budget crisis that has enormous negative consequences for our schools. In terms of education, inadequate funding hurts those children who are now in the classroom, as well as future generations of adults who would bear the fruits of an inadequate education. Because our human resources are our most important treasure in a democracy, we must do what we can to fight for those institutions that serve our students and their families.

In seeking financial solutions in this crisis, it’s clear that we have to pursue every avenue available.

The background context for this is important. The typical U.S. school has 30 percent more teachers than California, 61 percent more school site administrators than California and 92 percent more counselors than California. Those rankings do not factor in the $7.6 billion in actual cuts to school programs, $5 billion in lost COLAs and $4.5 billion in deferrals to schools since last February, as a result of the crisis. That’s $17 billion total. Add in cuts to this school year, and school funding falls about 18.4 percent below what’s called for by state law.

No matter what your perspective, it’s clear that lack of funding has serious consequences for students. That’s why the federal dollars become so vital.

President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently unveiled $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is the largest pool of discretionary funding for education reform in U.S. history. In competing for the funds, states must meet eligibility requirements. California is not eligible to apply.

In calling the special session of the legislature, Gov. Schwarzenegger is hoping that our laws will be changed to make the state eligible to compete for the funds. Certainly schools in Santa Barbara County could use the infusion of new money. It is not likely to make them “whole,” but it will stem the flow of devastating cuts.

As State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has pointed out repeatedly, our students continue to demonstrate a socioeconomic and racial academic achievement gap that is simply unacceptable. The Race to the Top funds would help greatly in bridging that gap, to the benefit of all of our communities.

The application for federal funds must demonstrate collaboration and cooperation among a wide array of individuals and organizations: the governor, the state superintendent of public instruction, the attorney general, the chair of the state board of education and leaders from all areas of public education. That’s how it should be. Calling the special session is the first important step in that collaboration.

We salute the governor for starting the process of making our state eligible for the important funds. The hope is that this will begin the process of forging an approach that gets a wide consensus, increasing our likelihood of receiving the funding.

Our schools are very grateful for those efforts.

— Bill Cirone is Santa Barbara County’s superintendent of schools.

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» Santa Barbara Citizen on 08.27.09 @ 09:40 AM

A former Santa Barbara County Education Office employee told me that Mr. Cirone prohibited she and other staff from revealing Mr. Cirone’s true salary figure.  Apparently, the salary reported to the public is different than what he actually receives.  Isn’t this dishonest and illegal I asked?  The individual with whom I was talking, an Assistant Superintendent at the time, said there were multiple illegal activities.  She told me she had a choice of leaving or reporting the illegalities.  She chose to leave.  Now she’s a principal in the Santa Barbara District.

The County Education Office and participating districts should NOT receive a dime of taxpayer moniey until there is an independent audit and public accounting of the current expenditures under Mr. Cirone and Mr. Sarvis.  If the community is unable to get accurate information on Cirone’s salary, what’s to say what he and Sarvis will do with new federal money. 

This reminds me of the $10,000/month expense account Superintendent Brian Sarvis apparently has in Santa Barbara School District and no one is able to get copies of these expenditures simply to review them. 

Getting the details of this information should be public record but Mr. Cirone and Mr. Sarvis resist and conceal.  If Mr. Cirone and Mr. Sarvis will open up their financial records then we have a starting point.  Over 600 school districts have begun to post their check registers online as a true step toward transparency and honesty in the public sector.  How about Cirone and Sarvis starting with this?

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» Goleta citizen on 08.27.09 @ 11:14 AM

It’s about time efforts were made to bring all these folks to the table.  I’m not hopeful that anything will come of it, especially in these times of poisonous partisanship, but it seems well worth the effort, especially if some agreement can be hammered out and the state can apply for those funds.  Good for you, Bill, for saluting someone “across the aisle.”

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» HNSB on 08.27.09 @ 01:15 PM

We should applaud the governor for trying to get federal dollars for California schools.

Someone has to have the courage and vision to understand that we need to fund our schools adequately and invest in our young people. The consequences of not doing so are devastating.

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» useless unions are the problem on 08.27.09 @ 07:32 PM

Abolish government unions they are already servants of the people—Our founding fathers would be shocked to see unions controling our leaders as they do now—puppets..

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» SB Parent of Two on 08.27.09 @ 08:04 PM

I wish more of our education leaders, or any elected officials for that matter, could see through their partisanship enough to see a good thing when it hits them in the eye.

Kudos to Cerone for giving credit to the governor where credit is due. 

Let’s see if any politicians in sacramento follow his lead.

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» Santa Barbara Voice on 08.28.09 @ 09:42 AM

This is a significant ray of hope. When an issue or a proposed action (especially as regards a huge benefit to education) cuts across the aisle to “really” demonstrate a bipartisan effort for the good of our state and our children, we need to pay close attention. Of course, our legislature needs to act to make CA eligible for the funds. The whole idea of recovery and reinvestment should never exclude our kids—the future of our state and our country—and we should certainly not hold the idea hostage while we pursue our own personal agendas.

The collaboration of individuals and organizations listed here is respectable and, as a democrat, I wish to encourage Governor Schwarzenegger in this endeavor and thank Superintendent Bill Cirone for “shaking hands” in acknowledgment of their mutual and informed decision that the allocation from the “Race to the Top” funds must make its way into our classrooms. Here is one respect in which both men are serving us well from their unique capacities as elected leaders. I applaud them.

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