New Business Coalition to Seek School Reforms

State business leaders Wednesday announced a new coalition to lobby for school reforms tied to higher academic standards, more parental choice and “meaningful consequences” for educators who fail to perform.

California Business for Education Excellence, as the group is known, includes Boeing, IBM, Pacific Bell and Hewlett-Packard and organizations such as the California Business Roundtable, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Manufacturers Assn.

“It is unacceptable that California, with the world’s eighth-largest economy, has consistently lagged behind other states and countries in terms of academic achievement,” said Ronn Robinson, director of education policy for Boeing. “We owe it to our students to drastically help improve their performance.”

The group joins an already crowded field of education lobbyists jockeying for the attention of Gov.-elect Gray Davis as he prepares to take office next month.

Davis has promised to call a special session of the Legislature in an effort to bolster accountability in the school system, grade-school reading programs and teacher training.

The business group Wednesday backed those broad goals--though it remains to be seen whether such consensus will prevail after detailed legislative proposals emerge.

While business leaders in recent years have become more engaged in school policy, their tendency to emphasize reforms patterned on competition, choice and high-stakes standards sometimes grates on educators who note that the public school system is not a free market.

During the fall campaign, the California Business Roundtable endorsed an initiative to overhaul school management, Proposition 8, that was vehemently opposed by an array of education groups. Voters defeated that measure.

But a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Assn. said Wednesday that the state’s largest teacher union would welcome the help of the new group.

“They’re seeking a bigger role because everybody is,” said the union’s Tommye Hutto. “When education becomes a top-burner issue, of course people want to do that.”

Business leaders interviewed by telephone from Sacramento said their coalition, which began forming in August, represents California business’ most prominent and best-coordinated attempt in recent times to tackle education issues.

“There’s been a variety of efforts in the past, but we haven’t been as effective really as I think we’d like to be,” said Dan Condron, a public affairs director for Hewlett-Packard. “So those of us that have been involved in some of those efforts before wanted to unify all the business community with one voice. We thought to be effective in California, we need to have business play more of a leadership role and be united.”

One of the headline issues facing the new governor and the Legislature is how to devise a system that rewards successful schools, helps low-performing schools and penalizes persistent failures.

In a statement of “basic principles,” the business group declared that accountability should include “globally competitive” academic standards; teacher training, curriculum and statewide testing in sync with those standards; and “meaningful consequences that are directly related to student, teacher and school standards-based performance.”

The business group’s platform also called for giving parents more freedom to choose the public schools they prefer, and more public support for independently operated “charter” schools.

Bill Hauck, the chairman of the group and president of the business round table, said business leaders so far do not have a more specific plan for school accountability. But last week representatives of the group met with Gary K. Hart, whom Davis has designated to become his education secretary.

Hauck said the group expects to support many of Davis’ proposals. “Our whole approach is consistent with what I understand his to be,” Hauck said. “We need to get better results. This is what it’s all about.”