By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Dec. 7, 2000

SACRAMENTO —With the help of Gov. Gray Davis, the state school superintendent and a busload of supporters, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's twice-defeated military school proposal won approval Wednesday from state education officials.

Amidst a circus-like atmosphere in which ardent opponents of the plan fought a ferocious war of words against unabashed Brown supporters, the state Board of Education voted 6-0 to back the first state-sponsored charter school.

"It feels good that we're moving forward," Brown said, as his backers hugged and shook hands while filing out of the jammed chamber. "We are moving forward to create a great academic school that will take kids even if they are a couple of grades behind, as 70 percent of Oakland students are and propel them into a position where they get 1200 on the SAT and go to the best universities."

The board's decision was a coup for Brown, whose Oakland Military Institute had twice been shot down by Oakland and Alameda County school officials. Brown flexed his substantial political muscle in the latest push for approval that included the governor and Superintendent Delaine Eastin.

Although there are 348 California charter schools approved by local or county school boards, a 1999 law allows backers turned down by local boards to ask the state Board of Education to grant the charter.

Davis, who was Brown's chief of staff when he was governor from 1975-81, told the board that he was the product of a military school education and urged board members to adopt the proposal.

"I am proof that military school can make a positive, lasting influence in a young person's life," Davis said. "Its strong emphasis on discipline and character helped to put me on the right path. I believe it can do the same for some of today's young people."

Scheduled to open in September within the former Oakland Army Base, the school will accommodate students in grades seven-12 with an initial class of 162. Each year, at least 162 seventh-graders will be added to the rolls until a capacity of 972 is reached in six years.

The California National Guard would run the operation, but a civilian principal would have immediate control. Confident the plan would pass muster, Brown met Tuesday with a Catholic school head whom he said could "very seriously" become the institute's first principal. Brown declined to name her.

More than $3 million in state and federal funding has already been earmarked for the school's inaugural year, including $1.3 million Davis included in the state budget. Roping in additional funding is a done deal, Brown told board members, dropping the name of Sen. Dianne Feinstein as a likely soldier in future fights for federal aid.

"We're in a much better position than other charter schools," he said in his usual staccato fashion. "We've got the money. We're ready to go."

While music to the ears of school supporters who joined the mayor on a chartered bus ride to the meeting, the salesmanship was lost on dozens of detractors who lined up at a speaker's podium to vent.

Some called the school racist. Others voiced concerns about the possibility of losing much-needed funding to the institute. Even a handful of anti-war veterans turned out to cast a shadow on a school run by the military.

Ken Rice, a member of the Oakland school board that voted against the proposal in June, said the school clearly lacked community support and found fault with its funding as well as its facility on the base.

"There is an asbestos problem, there are toxic problems and there's a gooey substance oozing out of the ground," Rice said. "The facility is not really a facility where we can really build a school where kids can succeed."

Outside, where overflow crowds braved an overcast sky and chilly temperatures to listen to the raucous proceedings through a blaring speaker, Brown was stopped in his tracks by a former Skyline High School student upset by the decision.

"We came here, and the whole board made its decision before we even got here," said Lakisha Ealey, 22. "Why have a hearing if a decision's already been made?"