California Education

California Gov. Jerry Brown has repeatedly shied away from challenging the state's most powerful special interest: public unions. Which is what makes his decision to take on one of its most entrenched bureaucracies so interesting and surprising.

Mr. Brown has made higher education reform a centerpiece of his budget and is using his bully-pulpit—and the state's purse—to pressure the University of California and Cal State systems to keep a lid on tuition. The governor met with the UC Board of Regents yesterday. His message? "Let's get real."

California's schools are in a state of financial emergency, according to the state's education chief, Tom Torlakson.

The state superintendent of public instruction spoke to reporters about the challenges facing California's schools at a press conference in Sacramento on Friday, surrounded by officials from numerous education-oriented groups and agencies.

During a 1960s renaissance, Californias public university system came to be seen as a model for the rest of the country and an economic engine for the state. Seven new campuses opened, statewide enrollment doubled, and state spending on higher education more than doubled. The man widely credited with the ascendance was Gov. Edmund G. Brown, known as Pat.