L.A. Area Chamber Statement on Senate's New 'Race to the Top' Compromise Legislation

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce commends the State Senate today for passing SB X5 4 (Romero), which would allow California to compete for $4.3 billion through the federal “Race to the Top” program.

“This is exactly the type of bipartisan collaboration we asked to see from our state lawmakers and now they’re moving in the right direction,” said Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.  “We applaud their efforts in putting first the interest of our children by bringing the best of two bills together to create our best chance to compete for ‘Race to the Top’ funding.”

Among one of the key items that stood out to the Chamber was language which commits California to turn around chronically low-performing schools.  Also, the new bill contains language which would strengthen academic standards and assessments by establishing an “Academic Content Standards Commission” — appointed by the Governor, Assembly and Senate — to develop new, internationally benchmarked content standards in English and math that build toward college and career readiness by the time of high school graduation.

Previously, the Chamber had sent a letter to the legislature outlining specific recommendations reconciling SB X5 1 (Romero) and AB X5 8(Brownley).  The Chamber now calls on the Assembly to pass the bill at the earliest possible date and to continue merging important language from both bills to put forth our best piece of legislation for California to compete.

More information on the L.A. Area Chamber’s education initiatives is available at www.lachamber.com.

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The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of business in L.A. County. Founded in 1888, the Chamber promotes a prosperous economy and quality of life in the Los Angeles region. For more information, visit www.lachamber.com.