Read California Gov. Pete Wilson's remarks about education as delivered during his recent State of the State Address US Sen. Dianne Feinstein has proposed a ballot initiative aimed at improving school performance For more information about Al Checchi, visit his Web site

Checchi Outlines Ten Big Changes For California Education CALIFORNIA USED TO LEAD THE NATION IN EDUCATION -- now we rank 43rd. Because we have had radical failure we need radical reform. We must agree upon the goals, set high standards and demand performance. The solution is partly about money but it's mostly about management. We have to invest in our children's education but we need to spend right not just more. I have proposed and I will fight for ten big changes in elementary and secondary education. Teacher Training And Standards First thing, the most powerful determinant of success in school is the quality of teachers. We need to attract good people to this profession and give them proper training. We must increase the quality and rigor of teaching colleges. We will forgive college loans for those who stay in teaching for more than five years. We will expand monitoring and give teachers the time and resources to get more training and achieve National Board certification. Those who do should be rewarded with Master Teacher status and a higher pay. We will recruit the very best teachers and raise beginning teachers' salaries by 20% to over $30,000. We must however, demand performance. We will establish mandatory competence tests for teachers and test each teacher every five years- in every subject they teach and in their ability to teach it. Those who fall short receive additional support and training but if they still fail they will no longer be entrusted with our children's education. Teachers shouldn't be grading test they can't pass. In a Checchi Administration we will reward teachers, but we will also weed out bad ones. Schools Facilities And School Safety Almost 90% of our existing schools are below standard or need repair. We can change this by making on-going maintenance a priority and fixing perverse budgeting incentives which encourage schools to let their buildings deteriorate. Last year, over 80,000 crimes were committed on school grounds, including 20,000 incidents of battery and assult with a deadly weapon. The only thing that kids should be afraid of is their next math test. We need to restore discipline and hold students accountable for their conduct. Students who are seriously or repeatedly disruptive will be sent to schools of last resort. Textbooks and Computers Last year, less than half of California's classes had enough textbooks and nationally, we ranked last in the ratio of library books to students. We need to fix our state budget which now only mandates a fraction of what is needed for textbooks. We also rank at the bottom of the nation of up-to-date computers per student, with one useable computer for every 73 children. It's time to wire every high school classroom and create partnerships to provide hardware and software at or below cost. Return To Basic Skills We need a basic curriculum and regular testing that is focused on job and college preparation. I believe in innovation but not at the expense of teaching math, reading, writing and speaking. After the third grade we will test every student every year. High school graduation should be conditioned on passing an achievement test. We will provide remedial help for those who fail, but we must end social promotion. Bilingual Education We must end the policy of bilingual education as we know it- as a permanent substitute for instruction in English. We will implement a two year limit on bilingual instruction for any elementary or secondary school student. We will protect parental choice but we will also end the perverse incentive which punishes, rather than rewards, success in teaching children English. Universal Pre-School We need to move towards universal pre-schools not just for the wealthy or some of the poor, but for the daughters and sons of working families and the middle class. This is an enormous payoff. We must plan, however, for the needed facilities, and resources. 21st Century Trade Schools We must equip all of the next generation with skills for the new economy. We have to open college doors to more of our students, but to those who do not plan to go to college, we need new school-to-work programs in every high school, built around partnerships with business and community colleges. Local Control And Charter Schools We need to cut the bureaucracy and transfer power to parents and educators at the local level through site-base management. Adjusting for smaller districts, we will put 95 percent of every education dollar where it counts: directly into the classrooms. We need to strengthen the effort to reduce class size and consider limiting the size of both our schools and districts. We have to encourage innovation and competition by expanding charter and magnet schools. We will entirely eliminate the percent cap on the number of charter school and [demand] from them the same accountability we will demand for every school. All schools will complete extensive report cards on their performance every year. After-School Programs We need to again make schools the center of their communities by drawing on the energy, caring and diversity in every neighborhood to expand the school day and provide after-school programs. We will launch "Cal's Best" to mobilize enough volunteers to restore programs in Arts, Music, Sports, Vocational training, and Counseling. Long-Term Planning By the year 2025, there will be 18 million more Californians. In the next decade, our school system will have to accommodate one million more students. To keep up with this growth , in the next five years alone we will need to build almost one new classroom every hour. We will implement a long-term strategic education plan including a ten-year infrastructure investment program. Every good business does this kind of long-range planning.