Education Reform California Style

Education reform was a major issue in California during the 1983 legislative session. As a legislative issue, it was resolved in July when Governor George Deukmejian signed into law an education reform bill that increased spending by $800 million and made a number of important changes in the state's education code. The differences between the 1982 and 1983 legislative sessions were stark. In 1982, an election year, despite intense pressure by the education lobby, the state legislature refused to grant new monies to education. Yet in 1983 the reverse was the case. How this turnabout came to pass is a case of state politics; national events had little impact on either the direction or the nature of reforms enacted.