California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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April 03, 2006

Westly on schools

Every California governor since at least 1990 has taken office pledging to shift more control over education policy from Sacramento to local schools and districts. And every governor eventually grows fond of setting more rules from the Capitol, if only to implement the really good ideas he has that others don't share. Now candidate Steve Westly has rolled out a major education policy speech, and the centerpiece is, surprise, more local control. I have no idea if Westly as governor would live up to his pledges, but they're worth reading anyway. Here is a text of the speech. I did note one glaring omission: no mention of charter schools, which are booming in California and provide the purest form of local control, since they are created by local teachers, parents and communities and set their own rules while being held accountable for their results.