Good afternoon Madame Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for having me here today. I come before you today to address my serious concerns about Proposition 54 and the potentially devastating effect it could have on California's education system. It is somewhat ironic that we gather here on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. It would give me no greater pleasure than to spend today discussing how we had lived up to Dr. King's dream and accomplished the lofty goals he set out for our nation. But sadly, we cannot.

There is no doubt that we have come a long way since that hot August afternoon in our nation's Capitol. Our education system is much more inclusive and less overtly discriminatory. Schools are being held accountable for teaching all our children; and all of our kids are being held to — and are reaching for — high standards. But we also must acknowledge that 40 years later as we sit in our State's Capitol, the struggle continues.

Any serious discussion of Proposition 54 must begin with the sad reality that there still exists an achievement gap in the State of California. The good news is that after years of widening we are finally starting to see a sustained closing of the gap. Just last week I released our latest test scores that showed almost all of our kids improving and, notably, our Hispanic kids closing the achievement gap. All boats are rising in California. And let me be clear, my friends, this didn't just happen by accident. And this committee deserves some of the credit. By prioritizing the gap through your budgets that allocated $250 million for programs like English Language Intensive Literacy, and nearly $1 billion to our high priority schools, we have used the data available to us to recognize problems and work to correct them.

We are on the right track, and to cut off the information we need to continue to improve would be a serious mistake. But Proposition 54 threatens to do just that. And while I am sure the proponents of the initiative truly want to create a colorblind society, in reality, Proposition 54 destroys accountability and undermines our ability to track achievement gaps.

There has been a lot of confusion about what effect the proposition would have on K-12 education. So let me see if I can help clarify. Many have assumed incorrectly that because federal law requires that we gather data for racial subgroups, education will not be affected. This could not be further from the truth. To begin with, my reading of the initiative says that while we may be able to collect the data for federal purposes, we could not use the information beyond reporting to the feds. But even with this restriction, we also would be constrained from collecting key data. The federal government requires that we report disaggregated data for grades 3-8 in English and Math. But, as you know, the state of California tests our children in grades 2-11. Within those grades we test not just math and English, but language arts, science, writing, spelling, and history/social sciences. Proposition 54 would prevent us from collecting information in all of these areas and we would lose information, for example, on how our Hispanic kids are doing compared to the rest of our kids in science.

But let me give you one specific example of how schools use this data to help close their achievement gaps. While looking through their data, Tierra Bonita Elementary School in San Diego County discovered that in 2001-2002 only 25 percent of their African American students scored proficient on our state tests. So they took that data and broke it down to the student level to discover why this was happening. In the end, they found that many African American students were having a uniquely difficult time with literacy. So they instituted a program to focus on reading and literacy in the classroom while also involving their parents by encouraging literacy at home. As a result, in 2002-2003 their proficiency rate for African American students increased to 40 percent. This is a tremendous accomplishment and a great example of why this data is important.

But if we pass Proposition 54, we tell our children that the system is only for the whole — and if an individual falls through the cracks they're on their own. I don't believe in averages in education. If one school performs amazingly well, and another fails miserably, the average score would be okay. But we all know that result is unacceptable.

The problem doesn't exist only in K-12 education. The California higher education system is the best in America. It is also the most affordable. Yet, even the best, most affordable education in the world means little if our children do not have the opportunity to pursue it. The University of California and CSU appropriately have set high standards for acceptance. These standards include both achievement levels, as measured by grades and test scores, and participation in the classes in which students achieved. Students who hope to be admitted are expected to take rigorous college preparatory classes. Yet, many students do not take these classes because they are not properly counseled or even are made aware of this requirement.

Consider this data from 2001-02; the most recent year for which this data was reported: 58 percent of Asian American high school graduates fulfilled the A-G requirement for acceptance to the UC or CSU. Yet only 40 percent of whites, 25 percent of blacks, and 22 percent of Latinos fulfilled that same requirement. And let me give you a very specific example of how this information can prove useful. In 1995 the San Jose Unified School District looked at their data and found that only 11 percent of their Latino seniors had completed their A-G curriculum. This obviously concerned them greatly so they increased the number of credits needed to graduate from 220 to 240 and made the A-G curriculum a requirement for all students. As a result, they significantly closed their achievement gap - a success that would not have been possible if they didn't have this key data. While individual motivation, parental encouragement, and personal values may explain a portion of disparities such as this, clearly other factors are at work as well. In the statewide example, these are 78 percent of our Latino kids who have done the hard work, studied, and graduated — but now are unable to attend a four-year California university because, in many cases, they weren't given good information. This is simply unacceptable. But if Proposition 54 succeeds, problems like this will be swept under the rug. How does that help anyone in our cherished open society? How does that make us truly colorblind?

Passage of Proposition 54 is an acceptance that inequities in educational attainment will persist and likely grow. Racial equality is one of our nation's most enduring social problems. And it won't be fixed with simplistic solutions. If we're serious about creating a colorblind America, we have to work at it. We must have patience and useful information in order to make progress each and every day. No doubt, at times it seems like it's too slow going — but I can say that in education we are on the right track and making tremendous progress.

In conclusion, let me just say that I have been an elected representative of this great state for more than 20 years. In that time I have had the opportunity to meet Californians from all walks of life. One unifying factor I have discovered is a sense of pride in our diversity and a deep moral obligation to truly develop a colorblind society. So I am convinced that once the voters of California learn about Proposition 54 and its adverse effect on education and many other areas of our society, they will oppose it and return to the hard but critical work of creating a society where, as Dr. King said 40 years ago tomorrow, all people will be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Thank You.

*Superintendent may depart from prepared remarks.