California’s lack of accountability for public schools leads to ‘world of hurt,’ columnist warns

For all California’s talk about equity and liberalism, it has condemned nearly 6 million students in its public schools to “a world of hurt” that fails to hold administrators accountable, a recent commentary concluded.

“A state that prides itself on being in the forefront of social progress still tolerates an education governance system created in the 19th century,” writes CalMatters columnist Dan Walters. 

Over time, this administrative patchwork – including the governor, state school board and superintendent, area and county elected boards and superintendents, Legislature and courts – has kept “voters and parents from really knowing who to hold accountable for obvious shortcomings,” Walters argues. 

“When things are going well, such as an upward spike in test scores, there’s a rush to claim credit. But when problems arise, everyone involved points to someone or something else.” 

Report outlines ‘urgent’ need to implement reforms 

Walters points to a December report by the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) exploring the “lack of effective governance in education, how it evolved and how it might be improved.” 

“The need to strengthen California’s education governance has never been more urgent,” the report concluded. “Schools are grappling with deepening inequities, persistent opportunity gaps, and the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning and well-being.” 

Meanwhile, Trump’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education requires states to take more educational responsibility, according to the report. 

“California’s education governance system is a complex network of agencies and entities designed to serve the most diverse and expansive TK–12 population in the United States. This system incorporates state, regional, and local levels of authority, each tasked with specific responsibilities and oversight.” 

Instead of merging “statewide education goals with local control and accountability,” this system “often results in overlapping responsibilities, fragmented authority, and challenges in ensuring streamlined decision-making,” the report notes. 

The results? 

“Students perform poorly in national tests of academic achievement, some local school districts flirt with insolvency as unions press for raises to offset spikes in living costs, politicians wrangle over money while issuing a steady stream of mandates and demands and — on top of everything — nobody knows who is accountable for outcomes,” Walters observed. 

The report suggests several administrative changes, including a “revised organizational chart … converting the elected state superintendent of public instruction into an ombudsman and independent critic, rather than the operational head of the state Department of Education,” Walters wrote. 

“The PACE report’s proposed changes might not work. Giving the governor more authority might backfire. But we won’t know if we don’t try it.”