SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday recommended additional sanctions for 97 California school districts that have consistently failed to make progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, including two districts in North County.

The federal act, passed in 2001, requires schools and statistically significant groups of students - such as special education students, English learners and low-income students - to meet testing benchmarks each year. The federal government increases those targets each year and expects all students and subgroups to pass the math and English tests by 2014.

Escondido Union School District and Fallbrook Union High School District are on the list for failing to meet achievement goals for four straight years. Both will face relatively light sanctions compared with other districts on the list that are performing more poorly.

Elementary schools in Escondido are on the list for a "light" level of support, which means the district will need to pick a state-approved consultant to help develop a plan to meet federal academic targets.

However, the district has done that already with help from the San Diego County Office of Education, so nothing further will be required next year, said Brenda Jones, assistant superintendent in charge of educational service for the district.

"We're basically going to continue what we've already started," she said.

Fallbrook's high school district is on the list in the "other" category, which means it narrowly missed federal targets and can revise its plan internally.

Schwarzenegger has recommended severe or moderate sanctions for nearly half the districts on the list.

Those districts, responsible for educating nearly one-third of California's public school students, face sanctions for the first time under the federal law because they have failed to meet achievement goals for four years.

The failing districts have been split into four groups under the plan: those facing severe, moderate, light and other action. For many, that will mean teams of education experts that will assess the districts' curriculum, testing, teacher quality and other issues.

They will then recommend action to the state Board of Education, which must approve Schwarzenegger's plan before it can take effect.

Schwarzenegger has vowed to make California the first state in the nation to embrace the penalty aspect of the law. But he said state leaders had worked hard to make sure the penalties were in proportion to the problems in each district.

"It's not a hostile takeover," Schwarzenegger said at Northwood Elementary School in Sacramento, where he toured the campus. "We are going to work with the schools."

If it had not intervened, the governor's office said, the state would have risked losing up to $45 million in federal money to help turn the districts around.

The proposal Schwarzenegger developed with Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell calls for teams of experts to intervene and devise ways to boost student achievement.

Seven school districts face the harshest sanctions, which eventually could include replacing administrators or a takeover by the state.

They are: Greenfield Union Elementary in Monterey County; Arvin Union Elementary and Fairfax Elementary in Kern County; West Fresno Elementary in Fresno County; Ravenswood City Elementary in San Mateo County; Keppel Union Elementary in Los Angeles County; and Coachella Valley Unified in Riverside County.

Coachella, a district in far southeastern California with a high migrant population, faces the harshest sanctions. O'Connell wants the Riverside County Office of Education to become trustee of the district and will recommend that action to the state Board of Education.

Schwarzenegger's embracing of No Child Left Behind marks a departure from the state's opposition to the six-year-old law, said Russlyn Ali, director of Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based policy and research group and a member of the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence.

But she is worried about how the state will pay for and implement the interventions. That concern is magnified by a state budget deficit of $16 billion and Schwarzenegger's own proposal to cut $4 billion in education spending in the budget year that begins July 1.

"On the one hand, I think it is magnanimous that the state is saying to these districts, 'You do not have to shoulder this burden alone.' On the other, don't make false promises," Ali said. "If you're telling them you're going to shoulder the burden of this, then bring it."

In his State of the State address in January, Schwarzenegger said he would make California the first in the nation to embrace the authority it was given under the federal law "to turn these districts around."

"No more waiting," he said. "We must act on behalf of the children."

California school districts facing sanctions under federal law

Here is a list of the 96 California school districts and one county office of education that face sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act:

County / District

Alameda / Berkeley Unified

Alameda/ Oakland Unified

Alameda / San Lorenzo Unified

Butte / Chico Unified

Butte / Oroville City Elementary

Butte / Thermalito Union Elementary

Fresno / Fresno Unified

Fresno / West Fresno Elementary

Kern / Arvin Union Elementary

Kern / Bakersfield City Elementary

Kern / Delano Union Elementary

Kern / Fairfax Elementary

Kern / Greenfield Union Elementary

Kern / Kern Union High

Kern / Richland Union Elementary

Kern / Taft City Elementary

Kern / Vineland Elementary

Kern / Wasco Union Elementary

Kern / McFarland Unified

Kings / Hanford Elementary

Kings / Reef-Sunset Unified

Los Angeles / Antelope Valley Union High

Los Angeles / Castaic Union Elementary

Los Angeles / Eastside Union Elementary

Los Angeles / Keppel Union Elementary

Los Angeles / Lancaster Elementary

Los Angeles / Lennox Elementary

Los Angeles / Los Angeles Unified

Los Angeles / Montebello Unified

Los Angeles / Mountain View Elementary

Los Angeles / Palmdale Elementary

Los Angeles / Pomona Unified

Los Angeles / Wilsona Elementary

Los Angeles / Compton Unified

Madera / Madera Unified

Marin / Lagunitas Elementary

Merced / Atwater Elementary

Merced / Merced City Elementary

Merced / Planada Elementary

Monterey / Alisal Union Elementary

Monterey / Greenfield Union Elementary

Monterey / King City Union Elementary

Monterey / Monterey Peninsula Unified

Monterey / Salinas City Elementary

Monterey / Salinas Union High

Nevada / Nevada Joint Union High

Orange / Orange County Office of Education

Orange / Santa Ana Unified

Placer / Tahoe-Truckee Joint Unified

Riverside / Banning Unified

Riverside / Hemet Unified

Riverside / Jurupa Unified

Riverside / Moreno Valley Unified

Riverside / Palm Springs Unified

Riverside / Perris Elementary

Riverside / Romoland Elementary

Riverside / San Jacinto Unified

Riverside / Coachella Valley Unified

Sacramento / Del Paso Heights Elementary

Sacramento / North Sacramento Elementary

San Benito / Hollister School District

San Bernardino / Chaffey Joint Union High

San Bernardino / Colton Joint Unified

San Bernardino / Ontario-Montclair Elementary

San Bernardino / Rialto Unified

San Bernardino / San Bernardino City Unified

San Bernardino / Victor Valley Union High

San Diego / Escondido Union Elementary

San Diego / Fallbrook Union High

San Diego / Grossmont Union High

San Diego / San Ysidro Elementary

San Diego / South Bay Union Elementary

San Joaquin / Lodi Unified

San Joaquin / Stockton City Unified

San Joaquin / Tracy Joint Unified

San Luis Obispo / San Luis Coastal Unified

San Mateo / Ravenswood City Elementary

Santa Barbara / Santa Maria-Bonita Elementary

Santa Barbara / Santa Barbara Elementary

Santa Clara / East Side Union High

Santa Cruz / Pajaro Valley Unified School

Solano / Vacaville Unified

Solano / Vallejo City Unified

Sonoma / Sonoma Valley Unified

Sonoma / Healdsburg Unified

Stanislaus / Modesto City Elementary

Stanislaus / Modesto City High

Tulare / Burton Elementary

Tulare / Earlimart Elementary

Tulare / Tulare City Elementary

Tulare / Visalia Unified

Tulare / Woodlake Union Elementary

Ventura / Hueneme Elementary

Ventura / Oxnard Elementary

Ventura / Rio Elementary

Yolo / Winters Joint Unified

Yuba / Marysville Joint Unified