Schwarzenegger pushes for funding
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Los Angeles on Thursday to push for speedy changes to state education laws that would help California earn eligibility for the $4.3-billion Race to the Top federal funding competition by a mid-January deadline.
Legislation to make those fixes is being pushed, in part, by state Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) who serves as vice chairman of the Senate’s Sub-Committee on Education.
Teachers unions have opposed the plan, which would, among other things, allow the state to evaluate teacher and administrator performance based on student test scores.
The groups have argued that lawmakers should not be in a rush to make changes for a one-time funding grant, but Huff and other lawmakers have disagreed with that assertion.
“We’re being told by [Secretary of Education Arne Duncan] that there’s going to be more of this,” Huff said. “So to the degree that we’re competitive now, we’re going to be more competitive.”
The Senate has already approved an education reform bill aimed at earning Race to the Top eligibility and the Assembly has yet to pass a similar plan, but lawmakers said this week they hoped to pick up the pace on their consideration of the legislation.
