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	Vol.7, No 12, September 20, 1999
	Future of state's education planned By Kristopher Hanson Daily Forty-Niner   The university system should ìget out of the business of remedial educationî for incoming students, said Cal State Long Beach President Robert Maxson at an education summit aiming to create a master plan for all state schools.   Maxson said the university is already on its way to reducing the number of remedial classes, which teach the basic math and English skills most students learn in high school.   "We have 308 valedictorians and merit scholars here on campus," Maxson said. "This freshman class is the most prepared freshman class in our [CSULB] history."    More than 700 people, including local residents, politicians, educators and administrators, showed up Wednesday night at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center to discuss remediation and many other issues affecting the future of education in California.   Tonight "we can start to repair...what may or may not be failing in our schools," said state Sen. Betty Karnette, D-27th district, the eventís host and a former teacher.   Karnette chose the campus because it is centrally located within her district, which includes Long Beach, Signal Hill and other neighboring towns. She is also an alumna who received her teaching credentials from CSULB.   The summit aims to get input from parents, students and citizens on the development of the California Master Plan for Education. It also provided a forum for the policy makers to discuss their proposals.   The Master Plan was started nearly 40 years ago to outline the future of education in the state.   The summit aimed to help design a new master plan for state education, which will affect state schools. The plan affects students in grades K-12 and those attending the stateís community colleges and universities.   CSULB may play a major role in providing qualified teachers to these students.   "Long Beach has been a leader in teacher education," said state Secretary of Education Gary Hart.   Other top education officials attending included Long Beach Community College President Jan Kehoe and Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Carl Cohn, among others in the panel.    One question the audience asked the panel was whether every classroom in the nation would be hooked up to the Internet by the year 2000, which President Clinton promised in 1996.   "We are not investing as much as we need to," Hart answered.   When an audience member asked the panel to discuss pay raises for California teachers, Cohn drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd by saying "beginning teachers in Long Beach [Unified School District] will make around $38,000 per year."   However, on the state level, Sen. Dede Alpert, chairman of the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education, said that "we need more money for teachers and raises."   More money is spent on prisons than on schools, Alpert said.   "There are a lot of things that we need to change," she said.   Another frequent question among the audience was how to change the statewide standardized testing system for K-12 students. The panelists agreed that the diversity of the stateís students needs to be addressed.   Barbara Samperi, Downey School Board of Education president, said that there is indeed an overemphasis on the role of standardized testing. She also stressed the need to return power to parents, students and local school boards - a sentiment echoed by other local school administrators and teachers on the panel.   The state needs to "encourage and reward creativity at the local level," Cohn said. "[The state] needs to look at returning greater control to local school systems."   Cohn commented that the Long Beach public school system has created its own version of a master education plan that assists students in the transition from kindergarten all the way into college. He said that greater local control helps parents feel re-connected to their childrenís education.   Early childhood education was another hot issue discussed at the forum.   "Will the first five years of life be addressed in this master plan?" asked Barbara Springer, a Bellflower teacher and one of the panelists.   Springer said considerable learning takes place in the first five years of life, before a child even enters kindergarten. She said children who have been read to by their parents are generally more successful.   "If we have parents who read to their children, it would help us a lot -- I can't emphasize this enough," Springer told the audience.   Some of the loudest applause of the evening came when panelists addressed the issue of bilingual education.   "It is important to note that bilingual education is still a part of the process," Hart said, referring to the voter-approved 1998 Proposition 227, which mandated English-only education in classrooms.   "My opinion is that every child have a well-qualified teacher," Hart said.		Future of state's education planned CSULB students go to U.S. Capitol Credit card probe may be sparked Weight gain another problem for freshman Internet makes job search easier for students Bill calls for parent-teacher home visitations P.R. can't cover up Student still concerned about WPE Prof. defends WPE Don't blame us Bobby Matos jazz ensembles excites crowd Cranberries return with rosier outlook on life, music Band brings fun Shumard directs The Beach well Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.