Governor's Commission on Education Excellence, California

Our Approach In April 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger established The Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence “to analyze current impediments to excellence, explore ideas and best practices relevant to California, and recommend changes and reforms. ... ” The Committee was specifically charged to focus on four inter-related topics: governance, finance, teacher recruitment and retention, and administrator preparation and retention. For over two years, the Committee has held meetings across the state and spoken with numerous stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers from California and throughout the nation to learn from their ideas and experience. The Committee also has benefited from an extensive array of research on education, prior studies of the California education system, and reports from other states and cities seeking to dramatically reform their school systems. The breadth of these inputs demonstrated the magnitude of the challenges facing our education system and extended the scope of our inquiry. Despite the remarkable diversity among our members, our Committee has achieved this report by consensus; remarkably, there has been little philosophical difference among members regarding our purpose, our principles, or the bases of our recommendations. We believe that this report sets the foundation for a system of schools that will meet the needs of Californians today and into the future, with the expectation that the system will continue to improve to meet the needs of future generations.