Walters: Newsom wants to overhaul state oversight of California schools. Will students benefit?

Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped a brief and vaguely worded section into his State of the State address earlier this month, suggesting an overhaul of how California’s vast public education system is managed.

“It’s long overdue that we modernize the management of our educational system,” Newsom said, “and so in the budget I’ll be submitting tomorrow, I’m proposing that we unify the policymaking by the State Board of Education and the Department of Education, allowing the State Superintendent of...