Statement: Bay Area Council Calls on State Leaders to Reinstate Funds for Statewide Student and Teacher Data Systems
Last week, the first draft of the “May Revise” budget suspended funds and development of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and its sister program for tracking longitudinal teacher data (CALTIDES). The Bay Area Council opposes the suspension of these critical, federally-funded programs, as does the Legislative Analyst. According to reports in the Cabinet Report, the Bay Area Council has learned that even if the systems are suspended, “…IBM – the state contractor – would still receive approximately $7 million in federal dollars whether they finish the system or not.” Also, “…eliminating CALPADS and the teacher data system…could result in lost Title 1 funding due to federal requirements placed around student tracking.”
Bay Area Council President & CEO Jim Wunderman today issued the following statement in response to this news:
“Throwing away federal funds for the student data system is just plain wrong – especially when our state is facing a $10.8 billion shortfall and the state contractor still gets paid if the job is never completed. Furthermore, as the Obama administration continues to award more and more competitive education funding to states that have data management systems, it would be wise to align California’s education system with the goals of the federal government, so our state can receive as much funding as possible in this down economy. The Bay Area Council urges our state leadership to reconsider this decision and reinstate the funding for the CALPADS and CALTIDES data systems.”
