California’s Schooling Is ‘Broken’

Studies call for overhaul of finance, governance.

California’s system of school finance and governance needs such a major overhaul that simply funneling more money into the existing formula or tinkering with the administrative structure probably wouldn’t help students reach state achievement goals, a massive research project commissioned by a bipartisan group of state leaders concludes.

Even though the package of studies—more than 1,200 pages in all— offers little in the way of cost estimates for improving student performance, the consensus is that the state first needs to give local schools more flexibility in their use of funding, get rid of barriers that make it hard to fire ineffective teachers, and improve data collection so officials can determine whether the money they are spending is making any difference.

The studies document “how broken the system is,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a press conference held to discuss some of the findings in the nearly two dozen academic papers released last week. “This is just a starting point for what I hope will be a renewed focus in the legislature on increasing student achievement with...