School Rules

Calif. Passes Education Reform

Overhaul of schools needs Schwarzenegger's signature.

The California Legislature passed a monumental education-reform package today intended to overhaul the state's school system and repair—or eliminate—its worst-performing schools. Gov. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill, which will allow California to bid for federal money, on Thursday. Despite opposition from the California Teachers Association and other teachers' groups, not to mention division among Democrats over the bill's provisions, the legislature was able to craft a package that gives state officials broad powers to change failing schools, by closing them, turning them into charter schools, or replacing the principal and half the staff, and allows parents greater leeway to move their children to better-performing institutions.