School Board's Formidable Task - Marin IJ Editorial - June 18, 2006

Article Launched: 06/18/2006 04:19:00 AM PDT

School board's formidable task
Marin IJ Editorial
June, 18 2006

EVEN Sausalito Marin City School District trustees admit their schools are not shining examples of public schools at their best. They do, however, share a strong commitment to building academic achievement among students and public confidence among taxpayers.
Still, despite the fact that the district spends $22,232 per student - more than three times the amount spent in Novato's public schools - and its class sizes are small, the district's 283 students perform well below state standards. Too many of these children are being left behind, but it's not because the district lacks the financial resources.

That level of taxpayer support could lead one to ask an intriguing question: Would those students be better off if that $22,232 was used to enroll them in a private school?

While the local community supports the Sausalito Marin City schools politically, approving a recent $15.9 million bond measure, many parents are sending their children elsewhere, either to the district's charter schools, to local private schools or to other public districts through transfers.

Our concept of strong public schools has been a stark failure in the Sausalito Marin City district for decades.

The current district leadership says it is committed to turning things around. It is no easy task. In fact, some board members have been working on it since they won the stormy "Project Homecoming" recall vote in 1997. Since then, they have received political support from district taxpayers who have endorsed tax es and bonds, but most parents in the district still aren't sending their kids to district schools. Ultimately, they are voting with their feet.

The district has thrown staggering amounts of money at this problem without dramatic results, which indicates that money alone isn't the answer. If it was, there wouldn't be a problem.

The district includes Sausalito, one of Marin's most affluent cities, and Marin City, one of Marin's poorest communities. The racial divide is as stark as the economic differences.

District leaders cite a recent upturn in test scores as evidence the district is headed in the right direction. School board President George Stratigos says he's committed to rebuilding district schools, to bringing Sausalito kids back to Sausalito's public schools.

The district's plan, Vision 900, has an ambitious goal of lifting academic achievement well above the state standard to rank among Marin's top schools. Stratigos also wants enrollment to grow to 600 students, more than doubling this year's enrollment of 283.

That commitment is encouraging and deserves community support.

Building public confidence in the district's schools, decades of decline, is no easy task. It will take years of significant and consistent improvement before skeptical parents have enough faith in the district to return.

We should all root for Sausalito Marin City School District trustees to succeed because every child deserves a quality education.