Promoting Local Control and Choice for Public Schools in California
促进对加州当地学校的控制与选择
Steve Poizner is passionate about educational reform. Running for the California State Assembly in the 21st district to represent Silicon Valley, the 47-year-old candidate says access to excellent public schools is a "fundamental civil right."
"It´s so critical for students to exit the school system with skills to allow them to survive in this complex world," says Poizner. "Especially schools in low income areas, kids are not getting well served and equipped for higher education or the job market. There is no bigger civil rights issue or economic issue."
The high-tech business executive from Los Gatos, who also has a year of public school teaching and a White House fellowship on his resume, will face one of four Democrats vying for the State Assembly seat in this solidly Democratic district.
Poizner knows winning is an uphill battle, but he is working to build a grassroots effort that reaches across party lines. Positioning himself as a moderate Republican, Poizner focuses his message on solving the state´s economic and educational problems, not partisanship. He hopes his agenda appeals to this highly educated district, where two-thirds of voters have college degrees.
Education is a hot-button issue here, where the state´s school system is under enormous strain. "California used to have one of the top-notch public school systems in the country," says Poizner. "Now it is one of the worst." More than three-fourths of California´s 4th and 8th graders aren´t proficient in reading and writing. Students scored so poorly on the state´s High School Exit Exam that the test had to be postponed until 2006.
With six million public school students in California, Poizner contends that the system is too massive to be fixed from the top down. "When you look at the structural challenges, you wonder why the legislature would want to micromanage something so complex and apply rules uniformly across all 1,000 school districts," he says. "I´m a huge proponent of local control. When you return power and control, you can tailor programs to meet the needs of local conditions."
Other educational issue on his platform:
·Recruit and retain top-notch teachers and principals
·Increase teacher pay and strengthen academic accountability
·Provide teachers with better working conditions and students a better learning environment
·Empower schools with the resources and flexibility they need
·Reduce the bureaucracy clogging California´s educational system and reinvest the savings in under-funded areas, such as per-pupil spending on textbooks.
·Ensure consistency in school testing
·Support successful models of innovation and public school choice, including an expansion of California´s charter school movement.
Poizner received his MBA. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1980 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in 1978. Poizner´s interest in educational reform is not something he latched onto as a candidate. He has long been an advocate for school choice and worked in the charter school movement. Charter schools are independent public schools, designed and run by educators, parents, community leaders and educational entrepreneurs. They operate free from the traditional bureaucracy of public schools.
In addition to founding two technology companies in California, Poizner formed a charitable foundation in 2000 focused on improving the quality of public education and donated $2 million to boost inner-city schools. He has been involved with groups in California that pushed for reform, such as EdVoice, Aspire Public Schools and the New Schools Venture Fund.
In 2002, Poizner wanted to get a first-hand look at the public school system so he taught 12th grade American government in an east San Jose public school for a year. "It´s a rough area. I was there in the trenches every day. It was quite a challenge," he says. Poizner was overwhelmed by the amount of problems the kids faced, such as gang violence. "It was a real eye opener," he says. "From that experience, I developed a strong appreciation for the work good teachers do each and every day."