Pavley’s New Bill Would Give Schools 
More Flexibility 

   California State Assembly member Fran Pavley has introduced legislation that would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to give more leeway to schools that score higher on the Academic Performance Index (API) with regard to the onsite program reviews that are required for every school in the district at least once every three years.
   The reviews, Pavley and others believe, are disbursed without regard to need, and put unnecessary pressure on high-scoring schools while also not giving proper attention to the schools that aren’t doing as well.
   “High performing school districts should be given more autonomy,” Pavley explained. “We should focus our attention and resources in school districts where we know there is a challenge in increasing student achievement, and reward excellence by giving high achieving school districts greater flexibility over local control of their schools.”
   Superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District, Dr. John Fitzpatrick agrees, “With this bill, schools throughout the state that are achieving at very high levels would be excused from having to go through some of the many bureaucratic reviews as a reward for their outstanding performance,” he says. “This would demonstrate to schools that, ‘You’re doing a great job and we trust you to continue doing so without someone always looking over your shoulder.’”