Education

Parents, business leaders and educators have lost faith in our public schools. For example, 25 percent of the teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District send their children to private schools. There is no more telling statistic than this. Ironically, California’s public schools were once the standard by which other state systems were measured.

California’s future is dependent on a highly-educated and trained workforce. To provide this we must once again have the best public school system in the nation – it’s that simple.

As someone who spent a year teaching in the public school system, Poizner has a first-hand understanding of the problems that our schools face. Over the past 20 years the control of public schools has shifted from the local level to Sacramento. Teachers and administrators today have almost zero control over the facilities, the classroom and the budget. This must change. The control of our public schools must be returned to the local level. Parents, teachers and locally-elected school boards have a far greater understanding of the unique needs of their schools than do politicians in Sacramento. Returning control to the local level will improve accountability, better ensure that students achieve grade-level proficiency in core subjects, and see that school facilities are adequately constructed and maintained.

Our colleges and universities are also an important part of this picture. Given the increasing complexity of modern technology and modern society, it is imperative that our higher education system produce more undergraduates with engineering and business degrees every year. But our universities must play a role that goes beyond education. We must partner with them – and this includes providing the necessary resources – to make sure that we are well-positioned to lead the world on cutting-edge industries of tomorrow such as bioengineering, information technology, clean energy and nanotechnology.

Our economic future requires a massive investment in education and scientific research. Failing to make this investment is not an option.