Legislative leaders met on campus last week to discuss a planned overhaul of the state's Master Plan for Higher Education, expanding the blueprint to include public education beginning in kindergarten, while reassessing its goals for community colleges and universities.
In their first meeting of the new legislative session, members of the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education met at UC Davis to talk about their own plan priorities and allow the campus community to get a first-hand look at legislative efforts.
The committee - which includes a number of former teachers - voiced concerns that the plan addresses the needs of California's diverse student body, while maintaining high standards for students, teachers and administration.
"If we do (the plan) right, it will have a far more reaching impact than any piece of legislation," said Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin, D-Duncans Mills. Co-Vice chair of the joint committee, Strom-Martin taught in Santa Rosa for more than 20 years.
Committee started meeting in 1999
The master plan committee, composed of nine members of the state Assembly and nine members of the Senate, has been meeting since August 1999. It's the first attempt by the Legislature to develop a master plan for K-12, community college and university education in the state. The original master plan for higher education was written in 1960.
With the recent interest in reforming K-12 schooling in the state, the Legislature decided to include it in its new plan, said Todd Greenspan, coordinator of educational relations and academic initiatives for the University of California Office of the President. Greenspan has been working closely with the committee.
"The focus is how UC can make a difference in K-12 education," he said.
UC has a great interest in assisting the legislators with their work, said UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, who chairs the UC Master Plan Advisory Group.
As a land grant university, UC is expected to pay close attention to the state's social and educational needs, Vanderhoef told the committee.
With a perceived decline in California's public education system in recent decades, he said, "the university must be more greatly engaged in this challenge than we ever have before."
Former CSUS chancellor offers insight
At the meeting, former California State University Chancellor Barry Munitz offered the committee some historical perspective on the original master plan. He was a longtime colleague of Clark Kerr, the former UC president who helped develop the 1960 plan.
The original higher education blueprint, among other recommendations, called for the expansion of the UC and CSU systems, established transfer standards for community college students and granted free higher education to students.
The master plan was updated in 1973 and 1989.
According to Kerr, Munitz said, previous versions of the master plan had their successes and failures. Kerr was pleased with the expansion of the higher education system, but disappointed in low community college transfer rates and the decline in the quality of undergraduate education on the UC campuses.
Committee members will have their work cut out for them convincing the education community they can develop workable goals for the state's schools and students, said Munitz, who is now the president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
"I find no one excited at what you are going to do," he said. "I find a whole bunch of people who are terrified at what you might do."
Public hearing slated at Capitol
The current master plan committee will next meet at the State Capitol Jan. 30 to hold a public hearing on the concept of what a quality education means.
Future public hearing topics on the committee's agenda include student remediation and teacher, faculty and administrator supply-and-demand levels.
The committee expects to issue a draft report by the end of the year, with a final plan ready by 2002. Legislation implementing master plan recommendations would then be created.