As schools reopen this fall semester, Long Beach residents continue to contemplate the state of our education system and the impact of public policy decisions on students and the greater community. By most accounts residents have much to be concerned about. School budgets have been dramatically reduced, personnel have been shrunk and class sizes have grown. At the higher education level qualified applicants are even being turned away, a result of painful limitations to access in California’s prized community colleges and universities.
Long Beach is in the unique position of having all of the following within its borders – an urban school district, a community college district, and a state university. In order to understand how these institutions are fairing, we recently sat down with their leaders to gain their perspectives and outlooks for the future.
With 84,000 students in 95 schools, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) is led by Superintendent Chris Steinhauser. Long Beach City College (LBCC), with 27,000 students, is led by Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley. And California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), one of the nation’s largest public universities with 35,000 students, is led by President Dr. F. King Alexander.
We began by asking each leader to describe the state of their institution, and their responses are both interesting and surprising.
According to LBUSD Superintendent Steinhauser, “student achievement is high, the college-going rate is high at 74%, and the average results on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) continue to climb.” For a massive school district with high rates of poverty, this is data the community can be proud of.
While Steinhauser praises the faculty, staff and parents who are collectively determined to ensure student achievement, he recognizes that negative morale can exist. “We are taken for granted,” says Steinhauser. “What will happen when we are not here?” The question is rhetorical, of course, but one readers should consider when thinking about the local education system. For kindergarten classes alone, the student-teacher ratio is 30:1, almost double the national average. The school district’s ability to persevere through such a change is commendable, but teachers and administrators should not be taken for granted as they improvise to maintain classroom quality.
LBCC Superintendent-President Oakley is equally proud of his institution. “Progress continues at Long Beach City College, and academic success continues to inch up,” he responds before listing how they are navigating a funding structure that has taken the college back to 1999 funding levels. “We keep the focus on the students. We are having trouble accommodating students, so we keep prioritizing. Keeping our focus on our students is what we can control.”
One of 112 community colleges in California, LBCC is certainly feeling the pain during current economic times. For a system of higher education that was once free, brought many Californians out of poverty, helped nontraditional students obtain career and technical education, and prepared scores of students to transfer to a university for baccalaureate work, the system is being particularly impacted.
This semester, students will pay an additional $10 per unit, or $36 instead of $26. Space is not available for all interested applicants. Aggravating the situation is the fact that unemployed Californians are looking for additional skills and training in order to return to the workforce. Additionally, the unemployment rate in Long Beach is several percentage points higher than the national average, at about 14%. “But we have to look forward,” Oakley exclaims.
With no shortage of optimism or passion, CSULB President F. King Alexander commented on the state of education at CSULB with the following. “Due to great personnel, we’ve kept the state of education very high. Unfortunately, we are spending $3,000 less per student this year, but our people are ensuring that students are their focus.”
There are many in agreement with President Alexander. In recent months, CSULB has been recognized as one of the best values in higher education by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. It was recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education for efforts in improving graduation rates, and it was one of just five universities recognized for its quality, affordability and access by the Education Trust.
Like his counterparts, however, it is important for Alexander to avoid sugar coating the problems. He is direct about his belief that state legislators have abandoned their commitment to public education, and that their decisions will adversely affect California into the future. “This all relates to economic development…it will take at least a decade to realize this impact,” said Alexander.
It is on that note that these three passionate and innovative leaders demonstrated their shared commitment to a Long Beach education system that is comprehensive, seamless and designed to support students and families in meeting their goals.
“There is hope for the future due to our partnerships,” says Steinhauser, referring to myriad collaborations among the three institutions.
At Jordan High School, for example, there are 90 students enrolled in LBCC and CSULB engineering courses this semester. In order to fund this partnership, President Alexander and Mayor Bob Foster engaged in a highly accelerated, two-week fundraising effort that produced the necessary resources for Jordan’s future engineers.
In another partnership, K-12 teachers are benefitting from another partnership with CSULB in which they are placed into classrooms to get the necessary hours required to finalize their teaching credential requirements. This particular program is now being replicated by the City of Sacramento.
The most innovative partnership, however, is the Long Beach College Promise. And listening to these leaders speak of its importance is highly encouraging. Approved by the Long Beach Unified School District in 2007, the Long Beach College Promise ensures local students a spot at both Long Beach City and Cal State Long Beach through a predetermined pathway. In less than five years the program has effectively transitioned thousands of students into local higher education programs. The program has quickly become a national model for communities to provide seamless education that focuses on the needs of students within that community, with the ultimate goal of obtaining a bachelors degree. And as if these three leaders needed more work on their plate, the phone calls from around the country are incessant.
“How do you respond to inquiries,” we ask. “This is a compilation of hundreds of things, not just one thing,” Alexander points out. The lesson for interested communities out there: get your education leaders on the same page and the results will pay off. “The three of us speak weekly, sometimes daily about the promise and are constantly reassessing the program,” Alexander continues. “We cannot answer that question in one phone call,” Oakley states.
For Oakley, the value of the college promise is also unequivocally high. “Excellence of one system means excellence of another. We must understand how fragile this all is and work together,” he explains.
It is this spirit of collaboration, optimism, and unabashed focus on their students that resonates from these three leaders, and that is keeping the state of public education in Long Beach strong. There is not only an emphasis on working together, but an emphasis on addressing the community’s needs as one entity. These three are beginning to speak for each other, and to speak like each other, when discussing serious education challenges.
During this interview it was CSULB President Alexander who, with a slightly raised voice, noted that Wilson High School has 4,500 students, three times as many as most high schools nationally. “That is unacceptable,” he exclaims, before noting that the problem is due to public education funding, not the policies of LBUSD. It was LBCC Superintendent-President Oakley who noted that half of all college students need remedial coursework, which all three agreed is due to obscene class sizes in public schools that prevent students from reaching aptitude in math and English. “We have a goal to end remediation in Long Beach,” Oakley states. Alexander continues that “most states sit around and point fingers about this very problem, but here we’re going to work together to fix it.”
While focused on the Long Beach community, Steinhauser, Oakley and Alexander have remembered another crucial element of their jobs – advocating for reform to public education. When asked what parents and others can do to help, Steinhauser quickly responds, “turn up the heat…we need more pressure on lawmakers.” President Alexander invites voters to look up their legislators’ votes. “I would hold them accountable to their votes, not their words,” he emphasizes. “And don’t let the legislature off the hook,” Oakley pleas.
The three leaders agree with where the problem lies, and what the public’s response should be. Meanwhile, they have decided to also take action into their own hands. With a lot of courage, a focus on the needs of students and a commitment to the people who are their most valuable resources, our leaders are keeping the state of education in Long Beach very strong. The systems are effectively working together as one. Thousands of important stakeholders share their vision. And most importantly, they are energetic, optimistic and proud of their institutions during a major economic downturn.