By Laurel Rosenhall -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, January 25, 2005

The difference between K-12 and P-16 is more than a shuffling of letters and numbers in the proposal outlined Monday by Jack O'Connell, the state's superintendent of public instruction.

California's philosophical approach to education would gain five years and a broader scope under goals O'Connell set for the state's children in his annual address on the condition of public schooling.

O'Connell advocated state-sponsored preschool available free to all 4-year-olds whose parents want them to attend. Instead of a system that begins with kindergarten and ends with the senior year of high school, he said California should approach education as a process that starts with preschool and ends four years after high school graduation.

He proposed state and regional "P-16 councils" to execute the broader vision of integrating preschool and K-12 with higher education - even while he said the state doesn't spend enough money to allow schools to live up to standards set for the 6 million students in the existing K-12 system.

"Today, our investments have really bottomed out," O'Connell said.

As he has done during two weeks of appearances across the state, O'Connell called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to restore $2.3 billion in Proposition 98 funding for schools that the governor proposed eliminating in next year's budget.

And, indicating support for a proposed ballot initiative, O'Connell said the threshold necessary for voters to approve parcel taxes should be lowered from two-thirds to 55 percent. He advocated successfully for a similar proposition in 2000 that lowered the approval threshold necessary for school construction bonds.

A Silicon Valley group working with state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is preparing a statewide initiative that would lower the approval needed for parcel taxes that benefit school districts, community colleges and county offices of education.

"Let the voters decide whether they are willing to pay for the services our students need, without sacrificing the health of our seniors, the safety of our roads, the care of our most vulnerable citizens," O'Connell said.

Opponents said the idea was unlikely to fly with the public.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said parcel taxes are unfair because they demand the same payments from commercial businesses as from retired people on fixed incomes.

"Once people realize this is really an anti-homeowner proposal, they'll be disinclined to support it," Coupal said.

Richard Riordan, the governor's education secretary, also was opposed to new taxes.

"Raising taxes in our state is going to end up with economic disaster," Riordan said. "It's like suicide."

He also opposed O'Connell's request to restore Proposition 98 money, saying the governor was faced with tough choices.

"Are you going to deny health care to poor young children or are you going to not increase education money as much as some of the unions would like you to?" Riordan said.

As part of his vision of expanding the scope of education, O'Connell said he wants to begin planning for "universal preschool," a program that would serve all the state's 4-year-olds at no cost to parents.

He said he plans to lay the groundwork this year by developing standards for what children should learn in preschool and expectations detailing teacher qualification. Universal preschool, O'Connell said, can help close the achievement gap later in life between students from poor families and students whose parents are well-to-do.

In stretching the P-16 concept to the years beyond high school, O'Connell said additional work is needed to better prepare high school graduates for college.

He called for tougher graduation requirements and said that even students who don't plan on attending college need advanced academic skills to perform jobs in today's economy.

For that reason, O'Connell said, he plans on developing standards for vocational education to bring to the state Board of Education in March.