Beyond Detente

Now that Gov. George Deukmejian and state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig are talking again, there is the matter of what they are talking about. It should be education reform.

California has taken important steps to increase teachers’ pay and strengthen academic requirements in the public schools, but lately the pace has slowed. It’s time to consolidate the gains of the past and move forward, especially with efforts to recruit, train and retain dedicated teachers.

Honig and Deukmejian’s staff kept alive this new spirit of educational detente in a meeting late last month about the state Department of Education’s budget. Honig’s department still had to take some cuts, but the governor’s people agreed on ways to prevent other cuts that would have resulted in losing federal money as well.

Reaching agreement on next year’s education budget for the whole state will prove the true test of the conciliation process. Just as Honig must temper his language in describing whatever Deukmejian proposes, Deukmejian must realize that whatever he proposes won’t necessarily meet all the educational needs. He simply cannot take so personally the criticisms that are bound to come.

The first fiscal issue to be resolved is how to continue providing the extra help urban schools need--a program that brought more than $30 million to Los Angeles city schools alone this year.

The Legislature is also working on school reform. Its first priority should be moves to strengthen the teaching profession. Bills sponsored by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside), and Assembly members John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) and Teresa Hughes (D-Los Angeles) would improve teacher training and require potential teachers to meet higher standards before entering the classroom. Beginning teachers would receive more help through reduced workloads the first year and support from experienced teachers.

Class sizes must be cut. The goal of the bills is one teacher for each 24 elementary school students and one for each 20 secondary school students by 1991. That is expensive, but it’s fundamental to helping both teachers and students.

Finally, the players in Sacramento must come to terms with bilingual education’s future. Presently, the state has no law governing these programs and yet various federal court decisions require that the schools provide equal access to education through some kind of bilingual instruction.

Honig and Deukmejian still approach education reform from different directions but they need not be on a collision course. Honig is looking for changes in the system that will help teachers do their job better and motivate students to learn, programs that obviously cost money but also involve getting people as excited about education as he is. Deukmejian also wants to know whether schools are spending the state’s money as wisely as possible. Some programs, for example, may have outlived their purpose but still have bureaucracies in place lobbying for their continuation. Honig’s and Deukmejian’s paths may be more parallel than they realize, and once they really figure that out, the state’s schools can only benefit.