28/01/2026
Our Vice-Chairwoman's guest editorial -Bakersfield Californian:
"Community Voices: Laws severely hinder student performance"
By LAUREL SHEFFIELD Jan 24, 2026
I am a trustee on a local school board and was elected in the middle of the COVID pandemic. The reaction to the coronavirus by the “powers that be” in Sacramento and the resulting impacts on our Kern County students was nothing short of depressing and shameful. Our students’ test scores are still being negatively impacted to this day.
Local school board members attend two meetings per year hosted by the Kern County School Board Association. Part of the program includes a presentation on new laws coming out of Sacramento and the standardized testing results of Kern County students. What has struck me is the absurdity of the laws being introduced and/or passed and particularly in contrast to how poorly our Kern County students are performing on standardized tests. I will posit the question: Are the laws being enacted doing what needs to be done to improve students’ achievement?
It’s said to know what is important to a person, look at where they spend their time and money, and I’ll add “look at where they spend our tax dollars.”
With that in mind, let’s look at a few recent laws passed in Sacramento to “improve” education, followed by statistics on how our local students are actually faring on standardized tests.
State legislators, with the governor’s support, pass laws to limit homework, ensure students get recess even if they are disruptive, ensure schools can’t suspend students for willful defiance and require menstrual products be provided in male and female bathrooms from third grade on.
• 72% of Kern County students (3rd-11th grade) did not meet the standard for English Language Arts (https://caaspp.org 2025).
• 86% of Kern County students (3rd-11th grade) did not meet the standard for math (https://caaspp.org 2025).
• 83% of Kern County students (5th-12th) did not meet the standard for science (https://caaspp.org 2025).
“California students continue to struggle in reading and math. The persistent nature of achievement gaps in one of the wealthiest societies is a disgrace for California’s state leaders and a tragedy for its students,” said Vernon Billy, executive director of the California School Boards Association. “The state has failed to fully own this crisis. Local school boards carry the burden of trying to triage the situation under political and funding duress, while the state sputters along without a clear, coherent plan that details what the state is going to do differently to close the achievement gap.”
“Testing data released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that students’ scores in 12th grade math and reading were the lowest they’ve ever been since the tests were first administered — 1992 for reading and 2005 for math. Scores declined for all but the highest-achieving students, pointing to a large and growing disparity between the lowest and highest-achieving students.” (national-test-scores-historic-lows-math-reading-skills/2025)
I ran for school board to determine the core causes of our students’ dismal academic performance and help correct it. In closing, I again pose the question: Does the agenda of the governor and Legislature and the laws they enact help or severely hinder student performance?
Reading these statistics, the answer is a resounding “no.”
