Education reform is one area of intense interest.
My administration tried to persuade the legislature to embark on even a modest program of opportunity scholarships directed at poor children in the worst of California's schools. We were unsuccessful because of the concerted opposition of the teachers' union and its allies. It's interesting, though, that the idea seems to be picking up some support in minority communities, not just in California but across the country. After your appointment, letters ran in the Stanford Daily criticizing your stands on propositions 209 and 187. I knew when I took those stands that some people who disagreed would do so reasonably and with civility, but that many would hurl charges of racism and that those charges would be exploited to the maximum extent possible by political partisans.