Senate Standing Committee on Rules

The Senate Committee on Rules will come to order. Let me say good afternoon to everyone. We will continue to welcome the public in person and via our teleconference service. We're holding our Committee hearing in the O Street building in room 2200. And for individuals wishing to provide public comment via teleconference service, the participant toll free number and access code are posted on our Committee website and will be displayed on the screen right now and a couple more times throughout the hearing.

Today's participant number is 877-226-8163 and the access code is 453-0694. And on behalf of our incredible court reporter, I want to ask all speakers, my colleagues and witnesses alike to speak slowly and clearly so that we can get it recorded properly. And before we begin today's agenda, we need to establish a quorum. And a reminder again to my colleagues, you'll need to turn on your microphones for the roll call. And every time that we vote, Madam Secretary, will you please call the roll?

Laird here. Laird here. Ochoa bog here. Ochoa bog here. Smallwood Quavis here. Smallwood Quavis here. Grove here. Grove here. Atkins here. Atkins here.

Thank you. A quorum has been established, and I feel like a broken record when I look at the public and the folks here in this room to say we have Members coming and going. This is a very important hearing and confirmation. But we have Members who are presenting bills in the Assembly, which, unfortunately, is across the street in the Capitol. We have at least one Member that serves on two committees at the same time. So I want to beg our indulgence.

I want you to know that my colleagues read everything and will be here as much as possible to ask questions. But I want you to understand, when you see people coming and going, it is not a sign of disrespect. It is a sign of a very busy calendar. And I also want to thank you for your patience in waiting.

Today was a little different because of the 4 July holiday and because we had additional bills we had to take up on the floor and a special session. So I really appreciate your indulgence. I recognize it, and we thank you. And we will try to be as efficient with your time now that we are here as we can. And to that end, because we also have another Committee that will be coming into this room when we are done to finish up.

My colleagues have committed to two questions each concisely and we will try to follow our own guidelines. I wouldn't say rules, but guidelines. And with that, I think what I know in terms of the agenda, we'll dispense with some things that we can dispense with.

And I know what my colleagues would like to do, which is, under item two governor's appointees not required to appear, we need to separate each and every one of those out so I'm just going to make a comment and ask for a motion on each one and we'll go fairly quickly. I don't think so. One moment, please.

Okay. I am happy to stand corrected and suggest under item two, governor's appointees not required to appear, that we take items E, F,G, H, I,J, and K, and those are State Architect Gambling Control Commission, the California Horse Racing Board Covered California, and two Members for the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. Three Members. And that would be the motion I would accept. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. Thank you very much. Item three, reference of bills to Committee.

So move.

Thank you, Senator Laird, call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. Thank you so much. And we have item four, which is the appointment of Senator Allen to Select Committee on the Nonprofit Sector, increasing the membership from seven to eight. I would entertain a motion. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. Thank you. We will have a separation on floor acknowledgments. I would take a motion on item number five. It's a request by Senator Cortese.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair, please call the roll.

So moved.

[Roll Call]

No worries.

I'm five to zero.

Going a little quick. Five to zero. I would entertain a motion on item six of floor acknowledgements. And that is a request by Senator Weiner.

So move. zero, I just sorry. I didn't expect you to move Senator Weiner presentation.

Okay, we're not going to get into discussion. I am going to give a deference to Madam Vice Chair. Call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Four to zero. Okay, that is out. Thank you, colleagues. And now we are going to return to governors appointees required to appear. And we have panel one, which would be I need my glasses. Hildegarde Aguinaldo. And if I said that wrong, you are going to correct me because I should get it right, especially when we're talking about someone from the Community College's Board of Governors. Please come on up and welcome. And you brought special guests, I see.

As you are getting situated, I would invite you when you're ready to make opening comments, acknowledge anybody you would like. Thank anyone and obviously, we're waiting on you to introduce your family. But first, say your name for me so I and my colleagues get it right.

Pro-tem Atkins, it's Hildegarde Aguinaldo.

Thank you very much. Welcome.

Thank you very much. I'd like to first start on a note of gratitude. Thank you to Governor Newsom for reappointing me, to the California Community College's Board of Governors. Thank you to the honorable Senators and staff for accommodating me during this process. And thank you to my family, my incredibly supportive husband, Erin, my kids, who you could probably hear in the background, my four year old son, Jacob, and my six month old daughter, Hazel.

Being your mom is the most important thing I will ever do and is the lived experience I draw from the most in this work. And thank you also to my second family. Chancellor Sonia Christian, who is here today deputy Chancellor Daisy Gonzalez, Executive Vice Chancellor Lizette Navarrett, and Vice Chancellor David O'Brien, who is also here today. I'd also like to thank my fellow board Members, including and especially the student board Members and the student leaders I've had the honor of working with and learning from.

He desperately wants to sit up here with me, as well as stakeholders from across the system who have educated and collaborated with me along the way. It is absolutely not fair that he could sit up. I'm sorry for the distraction. I started my please, go ahead.

No, I was going to say it's perfectly fine, and I was going to make a comment I should not make on the record, so go right ahead.

Okay, come on. You're not letting me come here. Come here.

Okay, come sit. What is his name again?

His name is Jacob Kolitz.

Jacob, welcome. And would you like to come sit up here? We're going to do something totally out of the ordinary. Your activist here, come sit.

Jacob, come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Sit with me. Come here. Sit with me and be very quiet, okay? Come here. Come and sit.

Okay.

Tell them who you are.

Okay, Jacob, we're going to listen to Mommy. She's going to tell us some really important stuff.

I hope so. Thank you very much. I started my service on the Board of Governors five years ago. In what feels like lifetimes ago, my colleagues and I hit the ground running, doing site visits, meeting with campus leaders, and wrapping our arms around the issues and the impact that the Vision for success was to have everything changed in 2020. But we know these things to hold true.

First, that our system is our state's best hope for breaking generational poverty and effectuating economic mobility for millions of students and their families. We work with a force of character and excellence that is distinctly Californian. We serve the top 100% of students. Our North Star is equity, and our plan is the Vision for Success as a system of 116 colleges. We serve 1.8 million students. Our majority learners are nontraditional students who are at the core of everything we do.

We have a plethora of mantras to prove it. At the Board of Governors, we are taking care of our students, our community and our planet. And at Calbright, we maintain a relentless focus on our learners. With this top of mind, we are doubling, if not tripling down on the educational determinants of student success. On a note of collaboration, we work alongside our sister of public education systems, the CSU and UC, to tackle difficult issues. And on a personal note, I believe in our future.

I believe in our students. I believe that our system is in the business of self actualization. And as a lifelong learner, a mentor, a mom, a daughter of Filipino immigrants who came to California to pursue the American Dream, and as the granddaughter of educators, and more recently as the Vice President of the Board of Governors, I have made that my business as well.

Everything we have done in the past in education, in our community, in our homes, and in the halls of power have brought us to this moment. What do we plan to do with this moment in Vision 2030, we will go beyond policy reform as the sole level for advancing student success with equity. We will focus on systems development that creates the infrastructure for our students to fully realize what the policy intended to happen. We will tackle issues such as climate, healthcare and generative AI. This is not the plan for the future. As Chancellor Christian says, our time is now. So thank you again for your consideration and I look forward to your question.

Thank you very much. Senator Laird, I'm going to start with you this time. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you for spending the time meeting. I really appreciated it. And for my two questions, I'm going to ask you some of the things we talked about, but more global in terms of serving. The first one is enrollment has taken a big hit in the last few years. It was a little bit of an issue in the entire system before the Pandemic, but it's really happened in the pandemic and just after. And I'm looking at the three school board Members that are up next, and they're going to get Jacob next year.

My apologies.

Don't worry at all. It's real life. And so the question is, as a board Member, how would you approach dealing with trying to have enrollment rebound and deal with that in the system that you have?

It's a great question, Senator Laird, and thank you also for the opportunity to meet with you. Previous to this, enrollment is a multifaceted issue, especially in rural areas. And as you know, enrollment has been declining across the country and enrollment has declined even previous to the pandemic. So the good news is that I think about 2.5% of our enrollment points have gone up and we're in the process of recovering.

That being said, I think we need to take a multifaceted approach to making sure that enrollment continues on an uptick, and part of that is having a responsive set of programming from each of the colleges that will help attract the students back. Another thing of incredible discussion on the Board of Governors level is reevaluating what the value Proposition of education is and making sure that what we're doing is relevant and timely for our students.

Great. And I'm not going to do a follow up, but we went on about specific programs and specific ways to attack it when we were meeting and just acknowledged that you said that and did that. The other question I had, that's sort of top level is of the three segments of higher education, this one is really different than UC and CSU, and that each one has a CSU and UC as a President and a Chancellor.

They really have a coordinated system, they really have a top down. And if the number is still 107, you have 107 different campuses and they're decentralized. And to the new Chancellor, who is sitting here listening, who I'm excited about her service, one of the things that.

Sorry, she's my chancellor, she's from Bakersfield.

There's something I could say to tease you, and I'm going to pass. So the thing about it is that on the Budget Committee and three of us are on the education budget sub, we had trouble because we have to wait till all the statistics are gathered from the campuses. And I remember there was 11 year where 97 campuses responded and 10 hadn't given the information. And we were waiting, we were trying to have our hearings and we were trying to do it.

And so you have this huge decentralized system that's different from the other two. How do you intend to continue to work as a trustee dealing with that decentralization, which is the strength of the system, but also is really difficult in terms of funding information, some coordination. How do you see that as a trustee?

We have 116 colleges now, so we've grown from 107. But you're absolutely right in that our local districts are our assets. We have folks on the ground who are able to understand the dynamics at the local level and students needs at the local level. And you're right in that the challenge is making sure that the information flows upwards, downwards and around.

So that is our emphasis at the board and certainly at the Chancellor's office to make sure that there is an open line of communication so that we can leverage the data that is being collected at the local level and we can provide guidance to the local level in making informed decisions of what's happening statewide.

Okay, I will just look forward to continuing to work with you on that as we go on because those are issues that will be really iterative between some of the committees in the Senate and the Legislature, and there'll be issues that will be in front of us. So thank you. I appreciate your willingness to serve and continue to serve and look forward to supporting you.

Thank you, Senator Laird.

Thank you, Senator. Madam Vice Chair.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tem. Thank you for being here today and the courage to bring your four year old and your six month old, I think that's really beautiful. It speaks volumes of you as a mother and balance. As the Senate Pro Tem mentioned, I had a grandson born this weekend, and I had four of my grandchildren for five days while this one was being born. So when your husband kindly offered up your six month old daughter to let me hold her, I'm like, I'm done. For at least a week.

But thank you for being here and again showing balance in your home life and your professional life. I understand that you serve as a board of trustees at Calbright, and as you know, there's been much criticism on the Low numbers of students completion, the student completions, and also much criticism on the workforce and industry partnerships to employ these students. Can you update me on the progress for Calbright?

I am very proud to serve on the board of trustees of Calbright. I think that one of the elements, one of the ingredients in their secret sauce is really making that connection with the workforce. So in developing relationships with industry partners, they are really putting a lot of effort into not only making sure that there's a pipeline for folks careers, but that the curriculum they're teaching is incorporating real time feedback from the workplace in what they're doing.

As far as low completion, I'm not really sure if that's supported by our data. We do have improved and growing enrollment with the expectations of hitting the enrollment targets set out in statute. And we'd be happy to provide more information if your office would like it on the low completion data. But as far as I know, our enrollment is up and there's a growing throughput of students from our programs.

Thank you. Please provide that to me. And I'll actually give it to the State Auditor's office because that's who gave me the information that the Calbright program had low student enrollment and also low participation in the workforce. So, please, I was just looking at the state audits report.

Yeah, I'm sorry, Senator.

You have information that can counter that. Please provide that to my office.

We'll absolutely do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

One more question on the Calbright process is that in May, Calbright College announced and they launched their first apprenticeship partnership program with students in the Fresno base Bitwise Industries. And then, as we all know, Bitwise filed bankruptcy, closed down, didn't pay people, filed Chapter seven bankruptcy. Have we placed those students in a different industry, or are we working on that? I think there were seven to nine students placed there. Are they currently working in the community or are we working on placing them in a different job?

I think it's the latter, Senator. I believe there were nine students that were bitwise fellows, and we are in the process of making sure that they're replaced. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. And for staff that question about the data and the numbers related to Calbright, I think all of us would like that. So we'll follow up with the letter so that you have it. Thank you. Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Thank you and welcome. Did we meet when I first was elected in 2020 with Calbright? I'm trying to figure out if we had the opportunity to meet because I have a feeling we did. Were you with Calbright? Actually, it would have been 2021.

It was Senator. Yes.

Pull your mic up a little bit. I think it's better to talk a little bit. I want to see if our court reporter can hear you.

Testing, testing, testing.

Perfect.

So I have one with questions with regards to our veterans. Years ago, the Board used to have a veterans Committee that focused on hearing about issues faced by the students who are veterans. The first part would be, does the board still have a Veterans Committee? And if not, how are we getting those updates and what is the plan moving forward? Also, lastly, how does the Board focus on the students cohort at the state level and does it provide additional support to districts that have a large number of veterans attending?

Thank you for the question, Senator. And also thank you for providing snacks for Jacob. The Board doesn't have committees structured like it used to. So as far as a veterans Committee, we don't have a formal Committee. But please correct me if I'm wrong, but we do have an emphasis on supporting our student veterans. And I want to call out one of our board Members. Our board Member, Blas Villalobos is a veteran.

I believe he served in Iraq, and he makes sure that the veterans population is of a specific focus every time we have conversations about students. So when we go do site visits at different campuses, we make sure to stop by the Veterans Resource Center and do our best to make sure that we also meet with our student veterans. As far as support to districts is concerned, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

I do think that we have programming for our student veterans and certainly try to connect them with workforce partners, but I would need to get more information as to the specific programs. I'd be happy to get that to you.

So just for a clarification, just to make sure that I understand what maybe is being said here, you don't have a Committee for Veterans on the board or working with the board. But you do have groups or cohorts at the local community college that take care of the veterans and have issues or that take care of the veteran issues.

Yes, there are Veterans Resource Centers on many of our campuses, but the board doesn't really operate at the Committee organization. We don't have committees. So we make sure that we incorporate the veterans into the conversation, but we don't have a specific Committee focused on it.

Okay. So we have it at the local level, and they probably, if anything, bring the concerns to the board.

They certainly could, yes.

Perfect. And then the last part I want to talk about is there has been several news articles on the difficulties of community college students. They're still trying to transfer to the UCS and the CSU systems. As a matter of fact, we're seeing a couple of policies in our education system, some of the concerns of whether or not the courses are matriculating into the CSU and the UC, especially the UC system.

Actually, we heard last month in rules that the largest drop in CSU enrollment has been from transfer students from the community colleges. What is the Board and Chancellor doing to make sure that the new law to create a single pathway for transfer to UC and CSU is developed and implemented smoothly so our community colleges students aren't delayed in their goals of moving into a four year degree?

And mind you and I understand sometimes that especially between our community colleges and our UCs, there's a different focus in the academic approach. Our UCs being primarily research based. So I take that into consideration with the challenges face there.

Zero, my. Jacob. Jacob, sit up here. Certainly transfer is one of the ways we hope our students will self actualize, and we put considerable effort into making sure that there's an ... and these students would transfer into CSU. Frankly, Senator, I think that the way to do this is to have a guaranteed number of spots available at UC and UC for our CCC students. And that has not happened yet.

So the capacity is not necessarily the coursework, but it's the capacity to guarantee. What you're saying is you would like to see a guaranteed slots by the UCs or the CSUs to allow for the community students to move into...

We did have a conversation with our CSU and UC partners at our last board meeting about the guaranteed numbers of slots. And it's a multifaceted issue beyond capacity. It's also an issue, of coursework, but we are doing our best to make sure that we can have that conversation with our sister systems and open the lines of communication and overcome the obstacles. But there are still significant issues there.

The new law that you were talking about is cal.., and I think it was creating a uniform general education pathway for our transfer students. And that has passed, but I'd have to get you more information on how that is actually working. It did pass in May.

Is that Mccarty's Bill or is that a different Bill? Okay, I'm going to have to look into that one because I was referring to Assemblymember McCarty's Bill that we just reviewed in Committee last week in Education. All right. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for being with us here today. I think this reminds me that a good participatory democracy requires robust childcare and support. So we might need to think about having some childcare in these hearings to help support our nominees. Really appreciated your opening statements and comments at the top of the conversation. A lot of the questions I wanted to ask were asked, so I will sort of get at sort of more specificity.

In terms of the enrollment data, we were glad to see that there have been some increase in enrollments from the pandemic impacts where so many, particularly black and brown students left the system. But we still, even though there's been a slight increase, the deepest and widest gap remains in black and Latinx male enrollment on these campuses. I'm curious what specific steps because you talked a lot about equity. So enrollment in terms of Equitable enrollment right.

Requires particular steps to ensure that we are reaching those folks who are most disconnected. What are some of the steps that you all are taking to address this with that? I had the opportunity to teach in the community college system, which I love because the students that I have the opportunity to work with and learn from are there because they are really looking to get skills and training within sectors where they will have careers that are sustainable and well paid and where they have an opportunity to be part of the future workforce. Right?

They're going into jobs that are going to carry our state for generations. So when we're thinking about the enrollment and particularly the equitable enrollment model, how are we also making sure that the population that we're talking about can get access? Because they're also deeply underrepresented in careers in well paid sectors when we talk about black men in particular.

So if you could answer the question about enrollment from an equity standpoint and then also how are we making sure that their participation in the system is resulting in access to good, sustainable and future workforce opportunities?

Thank you very much for the question. Equitable enrollment strategies are multifaceted, and I can think of three off the top of my head that we took a look at. One is robust outreach, making sure that we are putting a face and a name to folks at the college who will reach out to the students. Because that concept of concierge, that concept of having somebody being your cheerleader actually goes pretty far in making sure that persistence follows enrollment.

The second one is around financial aid, not only demystifying the process, but trying to simplify it. You should not be having to state a student should not be having to state that they have financial challenges multiple times during the applications process to college. We need to work to streamline this and to make sure that the resources actually reach the folks who need it the most. And the third, and certainly not last area is data. We need to collect data and be responsive to the data.

And I think thanks to John Hetts at the Chancellor's office, we are doubling, if not tripling down on the need to collect it and analyze it. So hopefully those will support our plan, our Vision 2030, and certainly the Vision for Success, which was entirely designed to close these equity gaps. We talked when we were doing work in 2020-2021 on equity, whether it needed to be another element of the Vision for Success or whether we needed to tie it into each one of those elements.

And we thought it permeated the plan, so we didn't call it out specifically, but that is the whole gist of our work as far as participation resulting in access to sustainable workforce and long term plans seems like a curriculum issue and an issue of supporting the students at the local level. So I think that our collaboration with the 76 districts and the 116 schools will make sure that workforce is top of mind for us. And certainly districts like San Diego have a robust regional workforce collaboration with the local community colleges there, and it's worth spreading that out.

I appreciate that. And really the outreach and data collection really stands out for me because we can't fix what we don't measure. And I had a meeting with a large national firm that is greening their fleet and they have purchased these vehicles up front, but the folks aren't here in place to actually manufacture them the skill sets.

There's also an article about how chip manufacturers are saying they are going to import workers from other parts of the world to do this work because we don't have a trained and skilled workforce. And so I am appreciating how the dots are being connected. And for those students, particularly black and brown disadvantaged students, the community college is the only way they're going to have an opportunity to participate in that workforce and to help us change that paradigm in terms of our workforce not being skilled.

So I would love to work with your office on how we do that. We certainly have had every Department, the Department of Technology come before us and vacancies on top of vacancies just in making our state operate. And I think community college students that I have had the honor to work with know that when they get relevant skills, they come to the University, right? They come to the college. Campus because those skills will translate into a job placement. And that's where I want to work with you to make sure that we're connecting those dots.

We are absolutely enthusiastic about working with you, Senator. On that note, and I hope the folks that you talk to who are greening their vehicles and don't have the labor workforce to support it, re examine what the California community colleges have to offer. Climate is one of the Governor's priorities and certainly one of ours. And we have a newly formed Center for Climate Futures within our foundation that is happy to collaborate with you on this work. So we look forward to the continued discussion.

Thank you, Senator, and I appreciate those last comments. In meeting with the Chancellor, that was a big topic of our conversation a few weeks ago. The colleagues have asked a lot of the questions. The one I would ask is if you would maybe give, from your perspective, the role of not only the Chancellor's office, but the board in assisting the colleges that want to build student and housing.

That's something we're engaged in in San Diego and with 116 community colleges, and I know there are some that are really engaged in this and others not so much. What's your perspective of the role of Chancellor and board in that process?

We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to build affordable student housing, given our campus footprint and the number of students and families that we can impact. We are natural partners in this work, not to mention that we can also engage in public private partnerships to make sure this happens. The role of the board and the Chancellor's office is to provide oversight and guidance. Certainly there are a lot of colleges and districts that are already shovel ready in this and that. There are two different types of programs.

One is more of the environmental impact study. The second one is actually constructing it. But we're working with the districts hand in hand on this, and we receive regular updates to the board, and I look forward to that being part of our continued discussion as we examine the educational determinants of student success, one of which is housing and built environment.

Wonderful. Well, thank you. I appreciate I think it's timely and relevant and certainly something I support. With that, I think we're going to go ahead and go to Members of the public who would like to weigh in in support and opposition. We will start right here in room 2200 for anyone that would like to speak in support. You can feel free to come to the mic.

Okay.

Seeing no one approach the dais, anyone who would like to speak in opposition. Okay, we will now go to our teleconference line. Again, that number is going to be on the screen 877-226-8163. That access code is 453-0694. And with that, let me invite our moderator. We will tee up people who wish to speak in support or opposition. Members of the public need to give their name, organization, if any, and their support or opposition welcome. Moderator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen if you wish to make a comment in support or opposition, please press 1 and 0. There's currently no one queuing up at this time. Madam Chair.

Thank you very much. We will talk with you again in a few moments. We appreciate your support so much, so I'm going to bring it back to the Committee for comments or motion. Madam Vice Chair has made a motion. Thank you. Madam Secretary, will you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. And we will forward this on to the full Senate for confirmation. And thank you for your service already, and congratulations on the reappointment.

Thank you very much. Pro Tem Atkins thank you, Members

And let me extend my welcome. I meant to do this in the beginning, but I think my attention got diverted to welcome the Chancellor, who we look forward to hearing from in the coming months. Thank you. Okay, we are going to take about a five minute break and allow for some transition and say farewell to Jacob. And you got to wave goodbye. You're on camera. You're on small camera and big camera. Okay? Thank you. Five minutes and we'll be back.

We're going to go ahead and go to item number B, and that is the panel for the State Board of Education. I again want to thank you for your incredible patience. This is kind of what you're good at, right? Putting. Well, anyway, let me welcome Dr. Linda. Darling-Hammond back. Let me also welcome Dr. Jose Francisco Escobedo and obviously, Ms. Alison Yoshimoto-Towery. Thank you.

And we're going to offer you the same opportunity, which is we'll start with you, Dr. Darling-Hammond, and opening comments. Anyone you'd like to thank or acknowledge, and then we'll just go down the row. And to my colleagues, when we start, I would ask you to direct your question to one individual, or if you want all three to answer, make that clear as well. And we'll get started.

Welcome. Thank you so much. I would like to start by thanking you, Senator Atkins, and the Members of the Committee for your Consideration and the Governor for reappointing me to the State Board of Education. I've served as President for the last four years during this very tumultuous time in California's education system, but I feel like we've made a lot of progress in that time as well because of the foresight of the Legislature and the Governor. I also want to thank my colleagues, Francisco and Alison.

We have a brilliant, committed, and passionate board and feel very privileged to serve with them. I'm here as a mother of three and a grandmother of three, so I enjoyed the last part of the panel as well. And as a longtime educator, I came from a family devoted to education. I was the first in that family to go off to college. I always loved school, and I always made everyone else let me play the teacher.

And I started teaching, really with my brother, who had a set of learning disabilities, and that was my great joy, to be his sister and teacher. I started out as a teacher's aide. I became a high school English teacher, worked in big factory model schools, and discovered in my beginning years of teaching that funding was unfair for schools in the part of the country that I was teaching in.

At that time, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that I was under prepared as a teacher for the challenges that I wanted to be able to meet on behalf of my students, and that I was in a setting in these large high schools that were not designed for personalization and for what the kids really needed for educators to be able to do.

And I went off to graduate school to figure out how to work on these bigger issues, and those have driven my passions for all of the years since. And I've worked both as a researcher and as a policy advisor, trying to figure out how do we use what we know on behalf of all kids so that we're really pursuing both excellence and equity at the same time. In the course of the following years, I was head of the education program at the Rand Corporation.

I was a Professor at Columbia and then at Stanford, working in teacher education as well as policy, and then started the Learning Policy Institute, which is where I now work, which is devoted to bringing research and policy together. So I'm honored to have been asked by the Governor to take on this role. And I really have been amazed at what this Legislature has done over the last few years to rebuild the system of education in California, which had fallen quite a bit from its glory days.

And I feel like that is the mission that we have now from recovering from the Pandemic and using this opportunity to really transform our system. The huge investments we've made in LCFF, the transformational initiatives like the Universal T-K Community Schools, expanded learning time, supports for educator training. We really are, I think, on a path that can take us, as one commentator put it, from worst to first. And I look forward to working with all of you to do that.

Thank you. And Dr. Escobedo, I didn't even realize I said your name, not even phonetically wrong, but I called you somebody entirely different. So please accept my apologies and welcome back. It's good to see you again.

Great to see you as well. Trying to figure this out. Thank you, amazing Senators, for taking your time to hear us and hear why we're here, what makes us passionate about the work we do. I first would like to present to you my lovely wife, Leticia Hernandez, who's also my confidant and counselor. She's also Superintendent at the Newhall School District, so she definitely helps me understand what's happening in the trenches as well.

And I've been a retired Superintendent, so I just finishing my first term, two years. I took over an existing term and will be completing my second term well, starting my second term. So there are so many people I need to thank, because I was Jacob when I was sharing with them. I was tough. I was very tough. I was an English learner. I grew up in the Heights, New York. My parents were immigrants, and I had a tough time in school.

However, I had critical people in my life that really helped me understand my assets. What my curiosity first? My parents. My aging father, who really showed me the value of an education, came in, got his high school diploma, became a machinist, and did a great job. And my mother, who also was an amazing lady, third grade education, but an amazing sage in my life. So just truly appreciate their effects in my life.

Like I said, I grew up in the Heights, ended up at an Ivy League school. My mother, who doesn't speak English well, they used to ask her, so where's your son going to school? He's in jail. And they said, zero, I'm sorry. She meant Yale. Anyway, that's a funny joke. But education I did not grow up as wanting to be in education. I actually wanted to become a forensic scientist and got into law enforcement.

But it was through my law enforcement career that gravitated me to education. I remember you shared I used to arrest a lot of Latino males and blacks males of ages of 18 to 24, and I would take time to counsel them to go back to school and remember my partner saying, hey, once they're in this institution, it's too late. Why don't you make a difference and be a teacher?

That was over 30 years ago, 35 years ago, and those words resound in my heart and my soul, like if it happened yesterday. So presently, I work I'm a retired Superintendent. I work for an organization called NCUST, the National Center for Urban School Transformation. Part of my work is to seek out those schools that make a difference for our black students, for our Latino students, and figure out what is happening differently in these schools and how can we replicate this in other settings as well.

And that is why I dedicate my life, and that's why I appreciate our Governor, our state legislators, because we do know what can make a difference, right? The issue is making it happen. And I am humbled to be in this position, humbled to work alongside with an amazing President of the board, Dr. Darling Hammond, and learning every day and applying some of the research we know that works.

And that's why I appreciate being part of this group, because our decisions we make our decisions focused on the research out there and what's best for our students. And that's what I think makes us a very powerful group. So, again, I appreciate our legislators who, when I started as a teacher, we were 50th in ADA per student. Now we're in the when we look at equity, when we're in the top 10. So I appreciate your also commitment to educating all our kids in the State of California. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Please.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm so pleased to be here with my colleagues. Thank you to the esteemed Committee for seeing us today at this hearing. I'm grateful to Governor Newsom for the appointment, to the colleagues who sent in letter support, and also to the staff here today who got us here and made sure that we were all set to go. I'd also like to thank my mother. She's listening from Monterey Park, which is in east of Los Angeles, 31 years ago, almost probably to the day.

She told me, you know, you got to get a real job that helps people. So she found an ad in the paper, and she helped me apply to be a teacher's assistant, and that was in 19 gosh, I'm embarrassed to say, but 1992, because of that, because of her decision, I was able to really see how I always knew I wanted to give back, probably from the second grade. But I was able to really see how I could do that through being a paraprofessional, a teacher, principal, district administrator, and in my last role as chief academic officer with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Through the pandemic, she was always there.

She's steadfast for me by my side. So, thank you, mom. Yesterday being the 4 July about this time of year, I'm always reminded that in our great nation, that Independence isn't afforded to all equally yet in our country and that for some, the language of opportunity is really a birthright, and for others, we learn it, and then for others, they're still fighting for that equal Independence. And yet when my great grandparents arrived over 100 years ago, they came without a formal education.

They worked in the chili farms, in picking sugar beets, and later, my grandparents worked in sewing factories and canneries and making buttons and fixing cars. But what was unique, not unique to my family, but perhaps a uniting factor about America is that it was public education that really saved us. And four generations later, it was my brother and I that had the opportunity to get a four year degree.

And for my husband and me, that also has new meaning because our twin boys will be starting their senior year in college this fall sorry, excuse me. Senior year in high school this fall, getting ready for college. So even though my elders didn't have a formal education, they were very wise. And I think that's why I identify so strongly with our community's triumphs and overcoming the hardships that they do.

And the promise of education is each personal story that inspires me to have my own courage to do what we do in education and as leaders and to renew my sense of hope and all of the amazing state initiatives that you've helped to make come true. As Linda Darling-Hammond had shared, our board President.

At the end of the day, I do believe it's every young person feeling and every grown up person in the system feeling that we care about them, that we believe in them, and that they know that we've got them and that we work together to do that. So thank you for having us today.

Thank you very much. Particularly with appointees in education and the education realm, it's always interesting to hear the personal stories. There's always a personal story related to why you do what you do. So I always find that really moving and compelling. Senator Smallwood. Cuevas. We're going to start with you.

Madam President. Thank you for that. And as you were all speaking, I was sort of going back and reflecting on earlier today and ED Committee, where it's clear that the efforts to suppress the educational tools that allow us to understand and learn about ourselves and our neighbors so that we can come together around a set of facts and understanding and say, this is how we want to govern and move forward together.

How the attack on that kind of education that our democracy so desperately needs, especially in a place as diverse as California, is just under attack? And I've been in so many hearings in these last few weeks where those old you talked about the glory days, right? But in those early days, those dark days where black students were trying to integrate and the local backlash against the fear that drove them to try to dismantle our education system and the entry points were so vicious and here we are in 2023, reliving that again.

So I really appreciated your opening comments and your diversity of experiences because we have all experience that's lived experience and it will take courage and determination and resistance to ensure that we have ethnic studies, that we have programs that embrace gender identity, that we have campuses where all of our students can feel welcome. I just want to say how important your comments are and your values that have been expressed here are so necessary in this current moment. My question really sort of will be for everyone.

And I'll start with our board President first to give us sort of a General answer and then Member Escobedo, if you could help me think about this from your role on the California Workforce Pathways Joint Advisory Committee and Member Yoshimoto-Towery in terms of your local perspective. It has to do with this intersection between work and education. Having done a lot of advocacy around underrepresented populations and the core competencies folks need to be able to access quality jobs. There's just such a deep correlation to that.

I was wanting to know what can the State Board, what is it doing, what can it do better to ensure that districts are incorporating and prioritizing career education, adult education, vocational programs into the overall education plans and that they're sufficiently funded and sustained, particularly as we're moving into this new climate resilient economy?

We talked a little bit about this, President Darling-Hammond, and on our conversation, which I really enjoyed, but I really want to think specifically, as we just are, about we just actually voted on one of the greatest, maybe once in a generation investment and infrastructure and trying to make sure that there are community benefits there to reach hardest hit communities. These are going to be generational jobs. How do we ensure our K-12 system is creating a deeper pathway for folks?

And then is there a way that we can think about our campuses taking those educational sort of steps and benchmarks and markers and building more apprenticeship, pre apprenticeship and apprenticeship and what has to happen for us to fully embrace this moment in time? And really the challenge, right, of how do we build an educated workforce intentionally to connect with this climate resilient opportunity? It's a loaded question. We all have different perspectives but if you could answer, I'd appreciate it.

It's so very important. And on your earlier comments I used to think that history was just steady progress forward but it's always progress and then pushback. It's always an iterative process and we're experiencing that. I'm going to mention several things that we have done and are doing and can do to really take advantage of this moment.

One thing is that California long before other states redefined accountability which in the no Child Left Behind era know a march to improve test scores. But that was all that was really being looked at. And we were one of the first states to create a college and career readiness indicator on our dashboard which is part of the accountability system for schools. And in that indicator we actually look at whether students have access to career technical education.

There's a proposal to look at internships that they might have as well as A through G coursework and other academic measures. So we have begun to create an incentive structure for schools to be sure that every student has a pathway rather than graduating students who are like well now what do I do? Or not graduating them at all. So we do have a framework for that which I think we can strengthen and we have been thinking of various ways to strengthen that on the career technical side of it as well.

We just in this budget you just enacted the Golden State Pathways program, which will really take advantage of this moment around green technology, around Stem, around health professions, et cetera, to create high school programs to build on the high school programs we already have, some of which have been very successful, to get kids into a place where they are in a very personalized setting, where there's a business industry partnership with the school around an area of industry advancement.

It could be health professions and prioritized in this new initiative will be green technologies where students will get their academic courses integrated with hands on experiences, internships. Some of them will be learn and earn which can help kids stay in school because then they are actually able to contribute to the household while they're also getting these skills with dual credit coursework.

So that when you come out of those high schools, as we've already seen, we have 600 of these pathways now, but not in the green technology area where we're going to be extending, not in the education area where we'll be extending as well. So the students who come out of these are prepared to go in and out of higher education. They may go straight to a job but then get a credential.

Many already get certificates, industry certificates, on their way out of high school and are prepared to enter as a health technician, for example. But maybe they're going to go on to become a nurse or a Doctor or as a person prepared for one of the green technologies.

So I think that's a very exciting new investment that we will have the opportunity to help guide at the state board as the RFPs go out to the schools and we try to shape them in a way that will be successful for the students who most need those opportunities.

And then the third place I think we can build on is the major initiative around community schools, $4 billion initiative that is in a third of our schools, creating the opportunity for wraparound services and the schools to be a hub of the community, offering adult education as well as education for the students in the school. So parents can be there in getting technology skills, in getting literacy skills, et cetera, so that they can also or others in the community can be engaged in this way.

So I think we've got a moment, as you said, where we can capitalize on becoming a leader in the country and in the world around a sustainable environment and doing that in all of these ways. We also have expectations in our curriculum in science and social science that students will be studying and learning about technologies that support a sustainable climate.

My role as a liaison is we're actually capturing data on the effects of a student completing the pathway. And the effects have been significant. When you look at achievement gaps, black students and Latinx students, that complete pathways, that achievement gap is mitigated significantly. It's almost erased. So when you create an environment where you see relevancy, right, where it's hands on you're with a mentor, you find purpose.

And actually in our research to San Diego State, that is probably the number one ingredient of students excelling if they feel valued and capable. And I do believe these pathways create that environment of students feeling valued and capable. The issue is, obviously, is how do we expand this, right? How do we ensure, when we look at the eight regional sections that we have in California, that we can ensure that our counselors bring more students into these pathways and ensure that they complete the pathways as well?

So there's more study especially. I mean, we've done a great job quantitatively, but we need to look some of the qualitative study and finding out from students, right, from counselors, how can we enhance this at a greater level? Because because the results are exceedingly positive.

Thank you. And to your question about at the local level, in order to have all of that happen, what I've noticed is that there has to be a convener and an articulation. Because as much as we talk about education, the workforce development component, the internships, the opportunities for young people and their families in adult Ed don't happen unless we're talking to local government. So city governments, counties often pitch in with jobs and internships. Philanthropy often supports the private sector support.

So chambers of commerce have been involved in strong efforts around this work. And I think one really critical piece is having a point person. And this might sound like a little bit in the weeds, but it's really critical that there's a point person at every school that can assist students with the implementation and the adults in the system in school with implementation, because sometimes the applications we've noticed are too long. So we also contribute in a local level looking at continuous improvement models.

So for example, we took a 36 page application and shrunk it to 12 pages, more or less. But there are things that we can do that unless we have really articulated people on the ground saying, what are the barriers? Why don't we have to see more students participating in this internship? Then we're not able to take full advantage of the opportunities, even though they're really, really good opportunities out there. And I would say also the universities have a role.

I won't name the University, but there was a local example where a dean said only 5% of architects are African American and he with the school district started a program where students stacked their CTE classes in a quarter. And they went to predominantly schools surrounding the University, where students in schools of color had opportunities to learn about architecture, visit different firms, work, do project based learning as if they were in the architecture school at this really amazing school.

And that was just the foresight and the vision of a couple of leaders that worked really hard to get an MOU through. So there are lots of opportunities, but it does take that articulated focus across institutions and across systems to make these opportunities really come to life for young people.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Madam Chair, I have a question with regards and this is just following up with question for Dr. Darling-Hammond. We had talked about the math curriculum and the opposition that had been received by over 1200 professors in the STEM fields with regards to the current math proposal and their concerns that were sitting in those letters. And there was an LA Times opinion last year actually, what does it say here?

Yes, it was in the LA Times last year where the two UC professors, UC Berkeley professors who wrote the article actually had opposed the curriculum. So my question. And there were Professors Jennifer Chayes or Chase, who works for UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data, Science and Society, and Professor Su J. King Liu, who is dean of the UC Berkeley's College of Engineering. So both professors of electrical engineering, computer services. So my question would be, were you able to reach out to them and ask and have conversations with regards to their opposition to the current draft of the math curriculum?

To whom do you want the question?

That was to Dr. Darling-Hammond sorry.

So I'm happy to tell you that the draft you're speaking of is no longer the current draft. We now just received a new draft of the curriculum of the proposed math curriculum framework, which has significantly changed from the previous draft. And there were many signers to petitions from universities and other places.

And so I did reach out to a number of them, not those two particular folks, but others who had been also critics of the previous draft at Stanford University, at Berkeley, and elsewhere to understand what the concerns were. Now, I want to clarify that the way these drafts come, they had not reached the board yet. There's a curriculum Committee. There's an Instructional Quality Commission. They work on these things before they get to the board.

So we were not engaged with it at that point, but we were learning about the concerns from the commentary that was going on. And there were two rounds of comments on those drafts, and another draft has been prepared, paying a lot of attention to those comments, and it will be coming before the board next week.

And so I did talk to many of the professors who were concerned in a number of institutions, and I think that the kinds of commentary that they made, many of them submitted, have been very carefully attended to. Among the concerns was a lack of clarity about how the pathway to calculus would be pursued for students who wanted to complete calculus in high school.

And that is now much clearer that there are multiple pathways to calculus, how students who were ready to accelerate in middle school to start taking, say, algebra or math one by 8th grade could do so. That is now in the new draft, very clear that there are both ways to accelerate, but also research on how to accelerate successfully so that more students are successful in moving more rapidly or more deeply through the curriculum.

There were concerns about the high school pathway and whether all of the conceptual topics that are needed to be successful in a Stem career in college were addressed, and those have been clarified in the new draft as well. So I think that the concerns that we hear from various places as these drafts go along, there's a whole process that the Department of Education engages in.

In this case, they also use the comprehensive center set of experts at Westead to also go through all the comments and make sure they were attended to have been really evaluated and incorporated.

Perfect. Thank you. So just for the record, so there was no attempt to reach out to these professors who wrote the article. And just for the record, when was this last draft provided?

It was posted about a week or so ago.

Do you think that there would be and I understand that you have all these stakeholders going into it, but considering the fact that they wrote that original concern, would you be at all interested in following up with them to get their perspective, being that they are very highly and commendable professors at Berkeley?

I would happy to do that. And as I say, there were a number of folks who signed petitions together. I think that they were among those with other professors who did. And I have spoken to several of them at Berkeley and at Stanford, and I'd be happy to speak to them as well.

The only reason I bring these individuals, just because they're the ones that actually wrote that op ed well, there were many op eds. In particular with this one. In regards to the math curriculum.

I'm happy to understand from anyone who has comments.

I was just curious to see their perspective with the new draft to see whether or not

And I imagine they're watching for it and I imagine we will hear comments, but I'd also be very happy, as I have done with others, to reach out and be sure that we understand what the comments are.

Perfect. So the other thing that I wanted to follow up on was the. Let me see here with regards to the choice in education, so we talk about different and I know we've touched up and this question goes for all three of you. I know we had touched a little bit on the question of the importance of choice for parents, especially in those school districts that are lower performing. And we talk about how that actually disproportionately impacts black and brown communities in particular.

And the importance, and in my opinion, an importance for having those parents have the ability to have choice to pick schools where they feel they have the resources or not just perhaps programs, but also when it comes to the curriculum or the I guess the funding sources. It has to be with the teachers to have the ability to have what they need to meet the needs of those kids so that they can be successful.

We were in education Committee just a couple of weeks and we had an African American woman or a black woman, I'm sorry, black woman who came and spoke about wanting to have choice in choosing a school for her children because she felt local schools were not meeting performance. We have a lot of toxicity going on right now when it comes to education. It actually absolutely breaks my heart, breaks my heart.

And it breaks my heart because we're seeing so many families leaving the State of California because they feel that the State of California is not reflective of not respecting their values. And so as we see the declining enrollment, as we see families who believe their children are not getting the best education possible available to them, and limiting those choices for these families so that we can keep them here, we've allocated an unprecedented amount of money in education this couple of years.

One of my very first comments and concerns and questions in sub one was the fact that how long do we have to allocate these fundings to programs before we can say whether or not these programs have been successful or not and reevaluate whether or not the investment should be in those programs? For the first time this year, I saw an attempt by Paula, by the powers that be here in education and in Budget One, the accountability portion of trying to figure out, okay, these programs work.

We're going to continue if they don't work after three years. It was three years, the magic number this year before we can have a number. But this year we have a three year mark. So in light of our performance for reading and math for kids in California, in light of the fact that we've had local control funding formulas that have been in place since 2013, I believe that allocated special additional funding for children of color or unduplicated children, I should just say in general, unduplicated children. What should be the role of California's State Board of Education with regards to ensuring that our kids are successful in reading, just basic reading and writing and math?

Sure. I think the greatest investment, because I remember when I was a principal, my parents used to say, I want this teacher. The choice of having a great teacher is probably the greatest investment we can ever invest. And because when you have a great teacher, miracles can happen. Students can accelerate a year and a half to two years within one year.

And I think in California, through our work with CTC, through our investment in ensuring teachers become nationally certified, is playing a real positive effect in ensuring that our teachers can become the very best in the classroom. So when you talk about choice, I think in California, choice is critical. Just as critical is having a capable, amazing teacher in every single classroom.

I believe as a board, I think my colleagues would agree, we always think about what's best for students, and then at the same time, how do we make our teachers better? Because again, I want to go back the greatest choice as a principal, as a Superintendent, parents know how transformative a teacher can be. And I think as a board, the better equipped we can have our teachers become.

The new credential, for example, that Tk through Third focused on ensuring that our teachers are well equipped in teaching the basic foundations and reading right. Those type of initiatives and incentives that as a board we laid, the foundation will have, I would say, a multiplier effect in that whole aspect of choice that you brought up.

I also think about the teacher as part of a system that has concentric circles of support. So I think about what you said. Dr. Escobedo makes me think about the pathway that we build to support paraprofessionals to teachers, to also our tour administrators at the district level to make sure that we have those adequate and ongoing learning opportunities for all over.

And when I say that, in my experience, I was one of the teachers that didn't feel prepared in my first year of teaching, so I ended up going back to school to get a reading specialist credential. And at that time we had literacy coaches. So some of the investments that we've made in the state currently with getting literacy coaches into our most vulnerable schools, training literacy coaches in our most vulnerable schools, will support the implementation and some of the work with the teacher preparation expectations.

The TPEs will also support that effort as well. And really thinking about it as not as a one shot solution, but as ongoing, repetitive, something that we know isn't going to go away until we get this right, I think is really important to have that long term commitment. And so I see that happening at the state level right now, which I think is very exciting and an important time. In terms of choice, I'll say that coming from LA.

I'm very used to living in an ecosystem with lots of choice. And as a student, my boys have gone to magnet schools and different types of schools depending on their particular needs. I do think that's extremely important. And I also feel as a district and an education leader, that we need to make sure that every school, every neighborhood school, has offerings for people who live in that community. And I only say that to say I think choice is important and I want to have choice, but also in supporting all schools to become successful in the process. Thank you.

I just add an affirmation of the importance of choice, and I think we have sort of a robust structure for choices in California, but we have to do the investments to make sure that they're quality choices, as has been said. But parents do have choices between and among districts. You can transfer their charter school affordances. And then the pathways that we talked about, some of which I think are in your district, some of the very successful ones, require choice. Right?

Because every kid has different interests and talents, and you want to allow parents and students to have those choices. With respect to the question about how are we going to be sure, though, that wherever students are, they get the kind of reading, writing, math that they need, we have been making progress. We do have some evidence in 2013 we were 48th in the country in 8th grade reading. We're now at the national average in 2014.

We adopted a framework, a curriculum framework in English Language Arts and English Language development that incorporated the science of reading long before other people were talking about the science of reading. And there's been a lot of professional development, the new standards for teachers that both of my colleagues referred to, the implementation of those standards. And we've seen gains. We were one of the two states in the country that gained most in fourth grade.

And we've gone, as I say, all the way to the national average in 8th grade. We have a further way to go. We're not going to stop there. But the point is that we are tracking a set of policies that are beginning to help. We have a lot more work to do in math. Back to your earlier question that we need to be taking up over the coming years.

Thank you. Is your mic on?

Sorry, and I understand that you're quoting there, but I just want to just highlight, just for the record, and this is according to the Calm Matters article that was written with regard to the lengthy pandemic closures and the impact it had on performance for our students. Which is why I've been very supportive of any funding and all funding that we have available to make sure that we have programs in place and so forth.

But it said before the Pandemic, 51% of students met standards in English Language Arts and it had dropped to 47% in mathematics. Proficiency declined from 40% to 33%, and only 35% of Low income students met state standards in ELA and 21% were proficient in math, according to the PPIC reported. Also compared to 65% of higher income students in ELA and 51% in math.

So I just want to make sure that we share a common understanding that choice, especially in our lower demographic groups or communities, black and brown affecting them, that we have the ability to have choice and not make it difficult. And I hope to be part of that voice here in the Legislature.

That doesn't make it difficult for our communities to have those choices, whether it's charter schools, public or private, and that we're accountable in looking to make sure that we have the right training for our teachers, the support that they should have in order to be successful. Because I do believe teachers are the number one gateway for our students to be able to successful.

I know my children have had excellent, amazing teachers that I've just absolutely fallen in love with, but they've also had those teachers that have had to speak up. But I knew what to expect. And I know that there are many parents and many students, especially immigrant families, who have no idea what the expectations should be, and especially coming from Latin America, many Latinos, we hold to the highest regard a teacher when they're in the classroom.

And so I just want to make sure that we are emphasizing the importance of having quality teachers that truly are there because they love the profession. They love to inspire and uplift our kids.

Thank you, Senator. Madam Vice Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I apologize. I have two committees at the same time, so I really do apologize. Thank you all for being here and being willing to take on this role. I do want to follow up on a couple of questions from my colleague that just asked these questions.

The data shows we've gotten a lot of the data back, and the data shows that traditional government or runner public schools, the public school model, government run public school model isn't working for a lot of our students. The most recent California assessment shows that half of our children don't meet basic needs in standards of English, and two thirds fail to meet the standards on math and science. The numbers are even worse when it comes to children of color, where a lot of low performing schools are.

In the neighborhoods where you have people of color. 84% of black students and 79% of Latino students don't meet the standards in math. Ms.. Hammond, you did say we still have a long way to go in math, so I appreciate that you would recognize that we do have a problem, but 84% of black students and 79% of Latino students don't meet the standards. We have a difficult time in California allowing parents to have choice whether it's a charter school run under the public system.

If it's a private school about funding that education. The Constitution says that everybody's entitled to a free public education. It doesn't say it has to be in a government building, says they're entitled to a free public education. And I know just briefly, in background, I introduced a Bill for a savings account so the money could fall. The student. I know this isn't the venue to debate that, but I do want to know your thoughts about are you looking at other alternatives?

With all the failures that we have in the school system, the way it's run now are you looking at there's a big push to not allow charter schools, but black and brown students are outperforming their counterparts in public traditional schools, and the numbers show that other states are adopting technology and new ways of allowing a child to have education.

A lead witness I brought up works two extra jobs because she has a high functioning autistic kid that was just being warehoused in a public school system, babysit basically 8 hours a day, but now has them in a private school that she's paying for even though she pays taxpayer dollars. And he's the best coding student they have in fifth grade because his mind works that way. But we don't have those kind of settings in the public school system.

Is the board at least looking at alternatives for how we educate our children. And I can start with Ms. Towery and then go to Mr. Escobedo, correct? Did I say Escobedo? Escobedo. And then Ms. Hammond. I apologize.

Thank you for the question. I think as educators, we always have to be modeling, being learners, and at any level, particularly at the state level in this case. So there are islands where this is working, and there are districts and there are schools that are outperforming others, and it's really a matter of identifying those.

And I know Dr. Hammond and Darling-Hammond and her work at Learning Policy Institute has done a lot of those types of case studies and looking to see what's behind these results and how do we highlight those, elevate those, so that others can see that, so that we can begin to be a learning community together. Because we do have to have this sense of collective dissatisfaction with the current results.

And sometimes the research about how we know the brain learns and how young people learn takes time to get into our practice. And that's one of the things that I didn't mention my intro, what I do day to day now.

But that's in the UC CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity and Learning, that's one of our focus areas is to think about that research translation and get it into the hands of teacher preparation programs, people working in those practitioners, and then also into the hands of families and students. So that the time between what we know works for whole child education to when we're implementing those things in the classroom is tighter and Shorter, Shorter cycles of improvement.

And I also think that much of the government administration and the Legislature's investments in expanded learning opportunities are critical. The ongoing learning recovery, the addition of universal transitional kindergarten, those are at a critical juncture now more than ever to help us meet our goals that we want to achieve.

I appreciate that response, but my question was with 84% of black students, 79% of Latino students failing to meet standards, failing that means that's affecting their entire life before them. So my question is, with 84% of black students, 79% of Latino students failing the traditional public education system, are you as a board looking at alternative forms of educational choice for education?

I would say alternative forms of also alternative forms of teaching and learning, of curricula and also of assessment. We had a learning session not long ago, a few months ago, to look and to think about innovative ways of assessing what young people know. Because, for example, my son, one of them does very well in tests and the other doesn't.

But the one that doesn't do so well in tests sometimes actually can problem solve and is a leader and is an innovator and is into arts and music. And so there often are other ways that we can help kids show what they know that maybe is different or maybe we're missing it on some of our current assessments.

So we looked as a board, and maybe my colleagues would like to add, but we did look as a board to see, like, are there opportunities for project based learning, for assessments that show how well kids lead, how creative kids can be, as opposed to memorizing or wrote memorization.

Thank you. Mr. Escobedo. The question I have is that with 84% of black students and 79% of Latino students are failing the state California currently structured public education system, is the board looking at alternative education opportunities like other states? More charter schools, resources to let parents pick and use the money that they pay in taxes to go to private schools, whether it be whatever they choose. Educational savings accounts.

So I appreciate all the comments that Ms. Towery made, but I'm just asking if you have examined 37 other states or a portion of those to look at alternatives than we currently and have done in the past for California students, because our students are failing again. 84% of black students, 79% of Latino students do not meet the standards. So you that are in charge of this whole thing, are you looking at alternatives for parents to have a better school choice for their child?

So part of my work in the National Center of Urban School Transformation is to look at those schools that are ensuring that 80% to 90% of Latino and black students are successful.

Right. And we've looked through 25 states, some in New York, some in Texas, some here in California, some are charters, many of them are traditional public schools. Right. And the issue is, how do you replicate these quality of organizations that ensures teachers collaborate? They look at student data almost on a weekly, sometimes even daily basis. How do you ensure that students have robust curriculum and the instructional strategies are effective and build upon one another? So, yes, I've gone to classrooms.

Great.

I've gone and work with students and parents and teachers and have focus groups on what makes this school exceedingly successful in some cases. Why not? Right. The issue is not necessarily whether you're charter or you're private or you're traditionally public school. Is that do you have some of those common characteristics in a systemic level, not just in one grade level or sparsely applied throughout the system, but do you have an adherence, a systemic adherence to ensure, as a system, you can enhance it?

So, yes, I spend 80% of my time in classrooms, not just in California, but in other states investigating that. We have four books published. One. Our latest book that got published in November is Where Black Students Excel. Right. We have 90% of the black students graduating from high school and excelling at exorbitant rates. I was a Superintendent,

Not to interrupt you. What report are you looking at? Because the information that we have from the California State education reports that we get says that 84% of black students are failing. So what report can you provide that to my office where 90% of black students are accepting?

We have case studies and I'll send you ours. I'll be more than happy to send our published reports

I need you not to talk over each other so sentence and know we know this.

That would be great if you gave that to me because the numbers I show I'm very concerned about these numbers. I'm very concerned about these numbers. Okay, thank you.

Ms.. Hammond.

Thank you.

I think we share these concerns. And like Francisco, I've been involved for many years both studying schools where students do succeed, which are often not the norm, to your point about the overall outcomes, but also trying to figure out how to start more of those schools, whether those are public charter schools, whether those are district run schools. I've helped to start schools in both of those sectors that have been successful for students of color.

And also I started a private preschool program at one point in my career. And I think it's not about the governance. It's about the work that's being done in the school. The role of the state board in California is to promote high quality public education.

So we don't get into the question of private schools in the board, but we certainly look at how to support both the development of high quality schools in both the charter sector and in the traditional district run public school sector, as well as the replication of good programs. We did a study at Learning Policy Institute not long ago on positive outliers which were districts in which black, Latinx, and white students all performed above the norms.

Chula Vista was one of those where Dr. Escobedo was the Superintendent at that time. And just to the point about what are some of the factors that we also need to replicate, the single most important factor, again, I'm echoing my colleague here, was having very well qualified and experienced teachers. So part of our challenge is figuring out the curriculum, allowing parents choices between and among the settings that provide different opportunities, different kinds of programs, but also being sure that we staff our schools really, really well.

And I want to go back to the points that Senator Ochoa Bogh made about the need for investing in great teachers. We have had a teacher shortage in this state for a very long time. It is most pronounced in the schools that serve disproportionate numbers of African American students as well as Latinx students. And we're working on that with respect to Golden State scholarships and residency programs and coaching programs.

But we're going to have to really solve that problem as well so that all schools that parents have choices of have really great teachers every school year.

Thank you.

Both of those things.

Thank you. And briefly. Because I know that I have two questions, and it took a little longer than I thought to try to get the first question answered. But is the state board of education, are you monitoring national school choice? I know Mr. Escobedo said he was he was looking at other states. Are either of the other two of you, as a state board of education, monitoring school choice opportunities to grow an educational model so that parents can pursue a better future for their children?

The parents that I hear from all over the state, not just in my district, I was in Los Angeles, San Diego, in the Bay Area, they are very concerned about the failure rate of their students. And so I guess my question is with other states developing models that give parents more choice of where their student gets educated. Perfect example, the coding young man that was being just warehoused in a classroom because of his autistic nature in a traditional school. But now he's like the top coder.

I mean, it's incredible what his mind can do. He has an advanced, bright future because his mom works two jobs to pay for that, even after she pays for taxes. So I guess are you looking or going to follow this in the next couple of years so we can see if we can adjust what happens here in California so that students have the best outcomes for upward mobility?

I would just say briefly, I think we have an obligation to do so.

I think as individuals, we follow what's happening in different states. I think we'd be interested in I'm personally not sure, being a new board Member, what the role the state board is in that. But I'd be happy to follow up informally. Thank you.

Great.

Thank you. Mr. Escobedo, you're already doing it?

Yes.

Slip my mind. Sorry, Ms. Hammond.

Yes, we do look across states to see what's working in other states and what we should be adopting in California. So that certainly is part of our role. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I know we've covered a lot of sorry, I'll use my two questions a certain way, and let me start with the Chair, Darling-Hammond. There have been reports that despite a lot of the things that we've been talking about, that reading scores have been going up even at some of the difficult times we've had the last few years, what's been successful that has caused California to gain on that?

I think that anything like that is a function of many things. I think we talked a little bit about the fact that there's new standards for teachers in terms of the way in which they understand and can teach literacy, which happened both at the preservice level and we've had investments in professional development. We have adopted a new curriculum framework back in 2014 and then a lot of professional development was associated with that.

Includes strong evidence around foundational skills in reading and how teachers help students learn to decode early on, but also how to teach English learners in a multilingual setting, the role of vocabulary and background knowledge and so on. So we were one of the first states to really put that knowledge base together and then begin to roll it out with professional learning of various kinds. We've also been doing work around. We have a California Dyslexia center which has been helping teachers also identify different reading disabilities.

And I think the combination of things is likely part of the progress we've seen in California on the national tests. I think it is also true, though, and we've seen this in the Pandemic years, that on our state tests, which are actually more rigorous in English language arts than the national tests we have seen the Pandemic hit.

Which means we have to redouble some of those efforts over the coming years to be sure that the current cohort of young people is getting the advantages that the previous cohorts had gotten.

I really appreciate your answer, and it's a tribute to what concerted effort will do, just in a whole different way. And occasionally, even though this relates to my other question, occasionally, I'm not sure the story gets told this well enough because we have all these discussions of how we're doing, and yet with a concerted effort, we've made a fundamental little difference on reading.

And yes, we moved, I don't know compared to the other states, very Low to the middle, but it shows the results of a concerted effort. So I don't know if either of the other view have had anything you want to add on that subject. I think it was a good summary, but if you have anything you want to add.

Just very briefly in complete agreement. And I also think particularly through the last few years, reinvigorating joy and purpose of reading and giving students real reasons to be reading, connecting with some of the other things we talked about, I think made a big difference. We're also increasing the number of dual language programs that we have with the intention of having more students get the seal of bi literacy by the time they graduate.

And so we know early on, young people who have opportunities to speak in their primary language get access to the content and continue that. And I know President Darling-Hammond mentioned the focus on English learners, and so I think all of that combined is also important.

Thank you.

Can I just say that Allison was the chief academic officer in LAUSD during a period of time when they became the fastest improving urban district in the country, measured on the national tests. And so she put that to good.

And just you know, I think our effort with T-K through third grade and ensuring our teachers have that really basic foundation on early literacy is going to pay off dividends down the road. Truly believe that with the science of reading and other basic foundations and inspiring and making literacy integral in the lives of students, having that for English learners, that integrated approach to English language development, we look at those achievement gaps, mitigate those achievement gaps as well.

Thank you. And I think that's a good statement in relation to what a lot of this larger discussion has been here in the hearing. The other question I had, and it's interesting, I think there was one answer where I'm not sure what our role is, but if we determine there is a role in that, there's been discussion where in many ways, it's the laws we make. And in this discussion, you were attributed to sort of having responsibility for the laws we make.

And I mentioned this during our meeting. And thank you again, maybe I didn't thank you for the chance to meet with all three of you. In the questions of Chairwoman Darling-Hammond, there were things like what's the role in restricting reading materials? Well, that's not ours. Do you coordinate with State School Board Association when training school administrators? Well, that's not ours. And there were a few more that's not ours in your questionnaire. And I think there's been an assumption that you're responsible for everything.

And so how do you see your role this is what we talked about in our meeting. How do you see your role in influencing the Governor and with the things that you do have charge of and actually being able to influence some of the things we've been talking about up here? I think I'll start with you again, the chair, and just see if others wish to come.

The State Board has responsibility, especially over things like curriculum assessment and accountability. So we don't make the laws we implement, the laws that you hand to us. And as you said, there are other things that we can influence by potentially by conversation, but not by direct action. But what we try to do in those areas is really provide the kind of guidance hopefully rooted in good evidence about what has worked here and elsewhere and in research, to be sure that what we provide as models.

For districts to adopt in terms of curriculum to ensure that the way in which we monitor and track progress is attending to the right issues. To be sure that the way in which we assess students is getting at the right things and then that we, where possible, where it's within our boundaries, make efforts to ensure that the programs that will help improve those outcomes are put in place and guided in the right way. So that is, in a nutshell, the purview that we have as State board Members.

I appreciate that and one very brief comment that I make to a lot of the people that we confirm is that the Governor does appoint you and I always hope you will reflect back to him as well. So he is hearing that in how he chooses to do budget appropriations programs and other things because that is really helpful to us, particularly if we happen to have the same experience. Hearing from you is really helpful to us. And let me just, in closing, see if either of the other of you wish to respond to that General subject.

Part of it is being great, good listeners, hearing from the public, hearing from our colleagues and communicators. And like you shared, Senator Laird is we communicate with Brooks Allen and share, hey, this is what we heard from our colleagues. What do you think, what talking points can you provide to us to create greater clarity? Because sometimes there are misconceptions from the field of what is the intent of the law. So I see us as listeners and communicators at the same time.

And just briefly, I think one of the ways we do that is through our liaison roles. So we each have other duties that assigned, but liaison roles in which we sit on different committees or different commissions to do some of that listening and build relationships and work with our stakeholders.

Thank you. People were reflecting on personal experience. One of the most interesting life experiences was watching the years my father was in the classroom and then watching the years he was an administrator and how he had to take responsibility for things that he didn't particularly like when he was in the classroom. And I think it is really good to appreciate everybody that are on the different sides of those issues. Thank you.

I really appreciate your answers, Senator Laird. Thank you so much. I feel like my colleagues have exhausted many topics. We could probably spend another couple of hours, frankly, but I would say you made an excellent point and I heard a colleague react to it, which know the exchange with the Governor's office on some of these issues. We do it differently between ourselves as committees Members, et cetera, with the Governor's office.

But you're a key bridge, I think, and my three colleagues are all either on budget or budget and policy committees. So I am not the one to be focusing on these three are. So I really appreciate all the questions and comments. We are going to go to Members of the public now and again. I'm going to start right here in room 2200 for those who wish to speak in support.

And I would just direct folks to indicate who you're here to support or when we get to opposition, who you're here to oppose so that it's clear to us and your name, your hat, if any, that you wear, organization you represent, and just support or opposition given the time constraints. Welcome, good afternoon.

Jennifer Baker with the California Association for Bilingual Education. Happy to support all three. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next witness.

Good afternoon. Andrea Ball. I'm here for three organizations. First for the California School Boards Association. Excuse me. Let me say, in support of all three of these outstanding candidates the California School Boards Association, the California Association of Suburban School Districts, and Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Jill Baker. Thanks.

Thank you. That was excellent. Welcome.

Thank you. Diana Vu on behalf of the Association of California School Administrators. In support of all three as well.

Thank you very much. Next witness.

Good afternoon. Lindsay Tornatore on behalf of the California County Superintendents, in strong support of all three candidates.

Thank you. Welcome.

Hello, I'm Efron Mercado from CTA. In support of all three candidates. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Let me see if there's anyone in room 2200 in opposition to any of the candidates. Okay, seeing no one approach the mic, we're going to go back to our moderator. Welcome, Mr. Moderator. Back and tee up those who wish to speak in either support or opposition to any of the conference and name organization, if any, and support or opposition. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

If you wish to make a comment in support or opposition, please press one, then zero at this time. We do have someone that has just queued up one moment while they're giving their line number. Okay, thank you. And we will be going to line 41. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Members. This is Liz Gullahorn of Council with Public Advocates. We are in strong support of Dr. Linda darling Hammond's confirmation. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Other witnesses?

There's currently no others in the queue at this time, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator, we again always appreciate your support. Let me come back to the Committee and we are going to take each appointee separately. And so I would ask Madam Secretary to call the roll on item. I'm sorry, I would move yes, you.

Want to move all three and then vote separately.

We can do that.

I would move all three and then ask that we vote separately.

Thank you, Senator Laird. Okay, so, Madam Secretary, we would call the roll on. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond.

[Roll Call]

Four to zero. Thank you. And next dr. Jose Francisco Escobado. Call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Five to zero. Thank you very much. And Ms.. Allison Yoshimoto towery. Excuse me, Madam Secretary. Call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Four to one. And with that, we will forward all three of your appointments to the full Senate for confirmation. And again, let me just thank you for your service and thank you for your time today. Okay, I want to let everyone know that this concludes today's public portion of the agenda. I want to thank everyone who participated in public testimony. If you weren't able to testify, please submit your comments or suggestions in writing to the Rules Committee. You can visit our website for instructions.

Your comments and suggestions are important to us, and we want to include that testimony in our official records. So thank you, everyone. Lastly, I hope he's listening, but if he's smart, he is not. I was even reminded by two people at our last hearing that it was John Waldy's last day, someone that we have worked with for many years with different hats. And so I hope a message goes up to him.

I'll call him myself and thank him for his time and an acknowledgement that Tim Shelley has returned to the Rules Committee and we welcome him back. And with that, we will move into Executive session.