RE: Question 1: Pre-school support-What's in the Plan

"the students who are faring least well in our public schools, colleges, and universities - largely students from low-income families and students of color - also make up the greater proportion of California's increasing population." Further, "nearly half of all school age children live in families with low incomes and more than a quarter under the age of five live in poverty." 

This is the reality much of the discussion has skirted. The biggest obstacle to effective education is economic and social stratification, particularly racism. Most standardized tests simply measure and reflect that stratification. If we are going to have an impact on these realities with education, the education itself, as well as its organization and financing, etc must be consciously addressed to diminishing such racism and stratification; otherwise it will inevitably perpetuate it.

This means that our efforts need to be measured by that yardstick, and also that they must be connected to other social and political efforts to overcome racism and poverty. Schools and teachers cannot do it alone.

One of the things we have been talking about in adult education is making our schools into community centers (a mandate already implied in the name "Community Adult Schools). The comprehensive state plan should call for marshaling and combining the efforts in adult education with those in the rest of K-12 education and give a serious thought to what other social services and support services, screenings etc can best be provided at (not necessarily through) the schools. Why not open all the schools up, after school, to provide educational and technological resources to the families whose kids are in attendance there?