Ed budget struggle starts with an idealistic note

bookmark this story and come back to it in six months to see what remains. The housing market woes will almost certainly capsize these plans

Governor has lots of proposals to fix California schools

In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to announce an ambitious but controversial education agenda that includes merit pay for teachers, more local control of school finances, and essentially barring 4-year-olds from entering kindergarten.

Schwarzenegger's education proposals have been anticipated since last spring, when a landmark study by Stanford University - commissioned by the governor and the Legislature - declared the state's school system 'irrational' and in need of an overhaul.

The governor then promised that 2008 would be the Year of Education and asked an 18-member committee of education experts to propose the fixes.

The article is referring to the "Getting Down to Facts" study that we wrote about back in March. At the time I wondered if anything would come of the wealth of studies and until now I no evidence that they had. Hopefully some of these reforms will survive — especially the idea of moving a lot of the ed budget money out of restricted funds and giving local boards more control. Here in SF that would make a huge difference, and potentially reinvigorate the Weighted Student Formula site based budgeting.

Bur realistically, the old adage that comes to mind is "No plans survive first contact with the enemy", and the frightening budget deficit that looms ahead is surely the enemy.