ARTICLES

Bad Choice, No Choice

Oakland and San Francisco Unified in Trouble with State

By Eric Reslock

The state standardized test results released on July 17th shows Oakland public schools are not successfully imparting a basic education to their students. Oakland Unified students scored significantly lower than students in both the state and Alameda County on the 1999 California Standard Achievement Test. In Alameda County 50 percent of third grade students did as well as the national average in total reading skills. 73 percent are above the nation's 25th percentile in reading. In San Francisco Unified, 46 percent of third graders scored as well as the national average. 72 percent of these are above the nation's average in total reading skills. In Oakland Unified, only 29 percent of the third graders can read at the national average. Only 51 percent fared better than the bottom 25th percentile in reading nationally. While better in performance, San Francisco Unified School District has been under investigation by the state over fraudulent accounting practices for the past eight months.

Oakland's problems go much farther than lapses in fiscal management. In June, Mayor Jerry Brown unsuccessfully tried to bring in the military to start a string of charter schools. But despite the June 7th vote of the Oakland School Board defeating his proposal, Brown is appealing to county authorities for a charter. Under recent legislation, counties, the state school board, or any school district may grant charters to new schools over the objections of local school boards. State investigators found that Oakland parents are the second most dissatisfied in California. Parents and lawmakers have recognized the district's crisis for some time.

In April of 1999, Oakland Senator Don Perata introduced legislation that would have allowed the state to seize the district away from the local school board. Perata's legislation was modeled on a bill by Compton State Assemblyman Carl Washington giving the state the authority to take over management of the Compton school district. Washington's bill had been signed into law the previous October by Governor Wilson. Perata liked Washington's approach so much that he introduced a similar measure. Perata's legislative hammer forced the Oakland school board to cry uncle. A deal was struck where Oakland Unified could avoid sanctions and state takeover if they would invite the state' auditors to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the district. The state agreed to provide the funding. On April 15th, 1999, Oakland's school board voted unanimously to ask for a comprehensive audit by the state's Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. Senator Perata backed off on his legislation. Governor Davis signed a funding measure, which allocated $750,000 for the assessment of the district. The study was completed in January but the state's team is still in place and continues to work.

Among some of the state's findings, released in January:

-- In the initial year of Academic Performance Index rankings, 42 of the district's 57 elementary schools received a ranking of five or below, and no public Oakland high school reached the targeted performance goal of 800.

-- Only 11 percent of Oakland high school seniors taking the SAT scored above 1,000.

-- Over four years, 21.8 percent of Oakland high school students will drop out of school, compared with 11.7 percent of students throughout California.

Thomas Henry, chief administrative officer of the fiscal team said that "In the case of Compton, the board lost its legal powers and duties. Senator Perata's bill was not like Compton's, where there was legislative empowerment. In his legislation that charge is not there." However, Henry said that an assignment to Oakland by the county office of education or by the state superintendent of public instruction is a possibility. In such a case, the team's authority to implement changes would be strengthened.

Such was the case in San Francisco. In December of 1999, the legislature lost confidence in the financial stability of San Francisco Unified School District. Superintendent of public instruction Delaine Eastin invited the fiscal crisis team to "advise and assist" San Francisco Unified improve its financial and internal controls. The study began in July of 1999 and finished in April 2000. The team found that controls in the system invited fraud. The lack of oversight was such that the district's fiscal situation "may be a violation of laws or regulations." One example that raised the eyebrows of the state's team involved a family member of the employee in charge of contract management for the district. She was paid $58,000 between July 1, 1999 and March 2000. Even though her contract was for only $10,000 for the period June 17, 1997 to December 31, 1997. Seven contract amendments were made to her contract, totaling $102,000 between April 1998 and February 2000. Each contract amendment was for $15,000 or less, thereby avoiding the required board approval for modification of consultant contracts. The employee also worked as a purchasing clerk in the district's purchasing department. According to her supervisor, she is performing regular purchasing work such as entering the warehouse orders. But her consulting contract allowed her to bill restricted building and maintenance funds for "professional services in connection with evaluation of proposals for sale of district properties and joint ventures for development of district properties." In another instance, the contract for an independent contractor was for $14,500 for the period March 29,1999 to June 29, 1999. The contractor was paid over $100,000 between July 1999 and February 16, 2000. Each contract amendment was for amounts between $13,500 and $15,000.

But by comparison, San Francisco is in much better shape than Oakland Unified. The Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank, published a report of the findings of the fiscal team's audit. Their summation: "With dismal achievement scores, classroom horror stories, administrative chaos, and the Ebonics controversy, the Oakland Unified School District has become the poster child for the failings of public education in California and across the nation."

Team administrators, while severely critical of the district's performance, also make note of the magnitude of the challenge facing Oakland's schools. Oakland is the eighth largest city in California. It has more than 125 language groups and a 77 percent minority population. There are 91 schools serving more than 50,000 students. But, the Pacific Research Institute notes, the district's diversity does not excuse their poor performance. "Demographically, Oakland's school district is similar to those in San Francisco, San Bernardino, and Fresno. Yet none of those districts has experience failure on the magnitude of Oakland's," wrote the authors of the report. Still, the inability to track non-English students into English settings are a major hindrance to Oakland's improvement. The team's assessment found that while more than one-third of Oakland's students are designated as limited-English proficient, yet only one percent of those students are reclassified English proficient.

Catholic Conference lobbyist Robert Teegarden points out that the parochial schools in the Oakland diocese have similar demographics as the public schools. "They [parochial schools in Oakland] have 73 percent minority population in kindergarten through 8th grade, and 54 percent minority in grades 9-12," he said. Performance comparisons are difficult because the state uses their own standardized test. However, Teegarden points out that 99 percent of the graduates of Oakland diocese' parochial schools go on to at least two-year colleges. Asked what the graduation rate was, Teegarden said, "It's the same, 99 percent. And that one percent does not really reflect dropouts because when you drop out of private school, there is still somewhere to go. That one percent is basically an attrition rate." Performance and dropout rates aside, what worries Teegarden most is the lack of moral instruction in public schools. "What is the moral content of the public school curriculum? That the state is the highest entity -- not their families, or God. Mozart and Bach wrote their music because they wanted to praise God -- that is central to its understanding. You can't have that conversation in public schools."

Asked if the Draper voucher initiative passes in November, whether the Catholic schools in Oakland can accommodate more students, Teegarden said, "Yes, but it's limited.

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