Sonoma County educators fault state list of underachieving schools

State education officials have reissued a list of the 1,000 lowest-achieving schools in California. It includes 18 Sonoma County schools.

But the reissued list, available on the state Department of Education's website, uses data from 2013 that is based on a test no longer in use, and officials caution that it is not to be relied on.

The list of open enrollment schools - so named because it is easier for students to transfer from them to higher-achieving schools - was released under pressure from state Sen. Bob Huff, R-San Dimas, and school improvement groups.

Huff and the groups were fighting a decision by state schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson not to post the list because of the age of the data and the fact that the Academic Performance Index scores it was based on have been suspended since 2013.

The political pressure, and the threat of a lawsuit, prevailed and the list went public - again - on Monday.

“The California Department of Education is following the law, while also pointing out the limits of the data. The reality is that this information is three years old,” said Peter Tira, a department spokesman.

Sonoma County schools Superintendent Steve Herrington said the schools have received extensive new funding, altering the picture portrayed in the list.

“Since 2013 to now, the state has invested close to $2 billion in school improvement activities, so a school that could have been listed in 2013 may not be listed in 2016,” Herrington said.

The list, he said, “is not an actual factual relationship to who's in the bottom 5 percent” of schools.

Parents who are concerned about their child's school, should it appear on the list, should talk with their school district officials about what changes have been made in the past two years, Herrington said.

The full list is available at www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/op/

Staff Writer Jeremy Hay blogs about education at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach him at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jeremyhay.