Feinstein Enters Schools Debate With Own Plan

SACRAMENTO — California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday jumped into the debate over state schools’ poor performance with a proposed ballot measure that represents “essentially what I would try to do if I were governor.”

Although she remained coy about whether she will run for that office, Feinstein, a Democrat, unveiled a prospective November initiative that would require students to pass a test before graduating, reduce class size in an additional grade and raise teacher standards. The 10-point program would be funded with $1 billion raised from new tobacco taxes.

Two weeks after Gov. Pete Wilson launched his own education reform ballot measure, Feinstein said Wednesday that her proposal--which is backed by Mayor Richard Riordan--is based purely on improving school performance and not at enhancing her standing on a leading public issue.

“It doesn’t mean I am and it doesn’t mean I am not” a candidate for governor, Feinstein said in a Christmas Eve interview.

Feinstein’s surprise move led to speculation that she is inching closer to declaring her candidacy. “It’s the strongest signal I’ve seen yet that she’s leaning toward running for governor,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior associate at the Claremont Graduate University’s School of Politics and Economics.

The education proposal--which also would extend the school year--at least suggests that she plans to involve herself in the 1998 election regardless of whether she runs.

The initiative outlines “essentially what I would try to do if I were governor,” said Feinstein, who led recent opinion polls as the most popular possible candidate. “And if I wasn’t going to run for governor . . . the people would do it [by voting for the ballot measure].”

Education consistently ranks as the No. 1 concern of California voters, and Feinstein has delivered one major speech--in Los Angeles last fall--sketching out her ideas for public school reform.

Her initiative--the first she has sponsored--would require students in grades 4, 8 and 12 to pass an achievement test before advancing or graduating. Such a move is controversial because it could hold thousands of students back. Funding for what Feinstein calls the Excellence and Accountability in Education Act would come from a new $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes.

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Feinstein’s office Wednesday submitted the proposed measure to the state attorney general’s office, which gives ballot measures titles and summaries. It would go before voters in November--on the same ballot with candidate Feinstein if she runs and wins the Democratic nomination in the June primary.

But first, Feinstein and other backers must obtain 693,000 signatures from registered voters to get the initiative on the ballot.

Bill Chandler, a spokesman for Feinstein, declined to say how the signature-gathering will be financed. The deadline is mid-April.

Feinstein and her backers will “do whatever it takes,” he said, to get those names.

Some points in Feinstein’s proposal overlap with ideas from others about how to fix the schools, including Wilson’s proposal, which is also aimed at the November ballot. Wilson’s measure would establish a parent-dominated commission at each school to make decisions on curriculum and spending, and would create a governor-appointed chief inspector to evaluate school performance.

But the senator’s measure would break new ground on a number of fronts, most prominently with the advancement exam requirement and the 12th-grade test that would qualify students for high school graduation. Those who failed would have to attend summer school or other additional study programs, then take the test again.

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Students would also be required to meet minimum standards in core curriculum subjects such as reading, writing, math and science. “Social promotion” of students based on age and the reluctance of teachers and parents to hold them back would be prohibited.

Other points in the proposal:

* Adding the fourth grade to the program to reduce class sizes to a maximum of 20 students. The class-size reductions go no higher than the third grade now. Concurrently, smaller schools overall would be created--a maximum of 1,500 students for high schools, for example.

* Increasing the school year by seven days for a total of at least 180 instruction days per year. Legislative estimates put the cost of an extension at $50 million a day.

* Making public schools subject to comparative rankings in academic performance and the teacher qualifications. The findings would be public.

* Providing scholarships of $5,000 each to help college graduates become teachers. A goal of 5,000 new teachers from the program is envisioned.

* Implementing a plan to encourage senior teachers to stay on as instructors and mentors to beginning teachers.

* Reducing the vote necessary to pass local school bonds from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority. Others have proposed this.

If Feinstein stays put in the Senate, her ballot initiative would offer an entry into the campaign she might not otherwise have sitting 3,000 miles away in Washington.

If, however, she decides to run for governor, the measure could help boost turnout among supporters and place her imprimatur on the education issue in the same way Wilson used Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative, to spur his 1994 reelection bid.

That strategy is not without risks. In 1990, then-Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp tied his political fortunes to a series of three ballot measures--dealing with crime, political reform and the environment--that diverted time and money from his campaign for governor.

Van de Kamp lost the Democratic Party nomination to Dianne Feinstein.

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Times education writer Richard Lee Colvin contributed to this report.