Checchi Outlines Blueprint for Schools

Using his first policy speech to address voters’ uppermost concern, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Al Checchi on Tuesday laid out a simple prescription for fixing California’s public schools: more money in return for more accountability.

“We can’t lead the nation and the world in prosperity and opportunity if we continue to accept schools that are falling behind,” Checchi said in a luncheon speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

“We can’t afford to wait or temporize or offer more programs that are little more than tree-trimming the status quo. We have to challenge everyone, including teachers, students, parents, business leaders, administrators and union representatives, to take part in an ongoing process of reform.”

The education platform that Checchi outlined included calls for a 20% boost in starting teacher salaries, provided they are tested every five years; annual testing of students, starting in third grade and continuing through high school; a two-year limit on bilingual education; universal preschool; and expansion of so-called charter schools, which operate free of centralized bureaucratic control.

In a swipe at his gubernatorial rivals--all of whom boast their own education reform agendas--the business tycoon turned candidate said nothing will be changed in the state’s troubled public school system “by electing another one of the political careerists who have presided over this decline, or tolerated it.”

“There are campaign pressures to which I don’t have to bend and I will not yield,” said Checchi, who enjoys the luxury of being able to finance his campaign entirely from a personal fortune exceeding $550 million.

But Checchi, delivering his first substantive policy address since launching his candidacy in September, proved no slouch when it comes to reading opinion polls--which place education as No. 1 on voters’ priority list--or sidestepping the difficult question of how precisely to pay for desired reforms.

Checchi suggested that his proposals could be financed in part with a 10% cut in the state bureaucracy, through attrition, and a requirement that 95% of all education funds go directly to the classroom. Those moves would provide an extra $1 billion for public schools, Checchi said.

Additionally, he forecast unspecified revenue gains through a still-to-be-detailed economic program, with the proceeds helping education.

That $1 billion--the only dollar figure he offered in his 28-minute address--would leave Checchi well shy of the many billions that education experts say would be required for meaningful reform.