State lawmakers must be wondering, “What ever happened to grade inflation?”
California State University released its first-ever legislative report card last week, rating lawmakers on how well they supported issues that benefited the school and higher education in general, and no one made the Dean’s list. Lawmakers were given bonus points for authoring legislation―24 bills from the 2011-12 session were considered―and were dinged extra for writing bills that CalState found particularly onerous.
Obviously grading was not done on a curve. No one in the Senate received an “A” but six received an “F”. Five senators received the highest grade, “B+”, seven got a “B-”, 11 received a “C” or “C+” and 10 got a “D”.
They didn’t fare much better in the Assembly. Again, no one got an “A” but 21 flunked with an “F”. Only five lawmakers received the best grade, “B+”, 29 had a “B” or “B-”, 17 were in the “C+” to “C-” range and six received a “D+” or “D”.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, the Top 10 legislators were Democrats. But San Francisco Democratic Senator Leland Yee was none too happy to find himself with a “D” grade, calling it a “sham.” Yee received a special doubles asterisk notation for authoring a bill CalState didn’t like: one that would have limited pay raises for university administrators within two years of student fee increases. Senate Bill 967 died in committee.
State Senator Elaine Ahlquist had her score dragged down to 75, a “C”, for authoring the unsuccessful Senate Bill 952, which would have prohibited only CalState from providing a compensation boost for any employee whose annual salary exceeded $200,000.
Only two Republicans fared better than “D+”, Senator Anthony Cannella and Assemblymember Kristen Olsen.
The scorecard was put out by the office of retiring Chancellor Charles B. Reed.
–Ken Broder
To Learn More:
Cal State Report Card on Higher-Ed Votes Angers Many Lawmakers (by Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times)
CSU Scores Legislators, None Receive Top Grade (California State University)
2011-12 Legislative Scorecard (California State University) (pdf)