State education plan makes parents responsible
Giving parents their choice of schools. Making sure teachers are qualified. Forcing bad schools to improve. All are tackled in the huge school reform package signed into law Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and approved with lightning speed by state lawmakers this week, to give California a shot at winning $700 million in the national education competition called Race to the Top. The application deadline is Jan. 19. . . .
The new plan lets parents activate such an overhaul at schools where half want it. Principal Barbara Franco of Napa High has seen it all. While Napa has earned a "distinguished school" kudo from the state for academic progress, . . .
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