SACRAMENTO - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell laid out an ambitious education agenda Tuesday, saying California cannot wait to raise student achievement until legislators tackle the state's $14.5 billion deficit.

In his annual State of Education address, O'Connell proposed a series of new programs that he said won't cost taxpayers any more money. The programs span from preschool through college and all of them are aimed at boosting the gap in test scores between black and Latino students and their white and Asian peers.

He also called for a frank discussion about race.

"It is time to move past the discomfort of talking about culture and race. It's time to move past this harmful illusion that we live in a truly colorblind society," he said.

While the achievement gap is a nationwide phenomenon, O'Connell said it is most pressing in California where nearly half the state's 6.3 million schoolchildren are Latino, and a quarter are still learning English.

Tom Timar, director of the UC Davis Center for Applied Policy in Education and one of the authors of a landmark package of education studies released last year, said O'Connell proposed an agenda for the remaining three years of his term as superintendent.

That may be a wise move in a year when ambitious plans run the risk of being overshadowed by the budget dilemma, and education advocates are focused on $4.8 billion in education cuts in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 2008-09 budget.

"Much of what he says isn't directed just to people in Sacramento and to the Legislature, but I think to a much broader audience. It's sort of a statement about our schools and our expectations for schools," Timar said.

Many of the proposals involve long-term reforms that would change the way existing programs operate but don't immediately require any new funding. Others, such as a plan to merge all the federal and state funded preschool programs, could save the state money by becoming more efficient.

Among the proposals O'Connell released Tuesday are:

• A plan to improve the quality of preschool programs by setting new standards and oversight. The legislation would be carried by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

• The American Diploma Project, a partnership with universities and colleges to align expectations throughout the school system, so students are better prepared to go on to college or work.

• A $2 million grant from the Gates and Hewlett foundations to speed up California's much-needed data system, which will allow teachers and school districts to track students over time.

• A pilot plan to give the Long Beach and Fresno unified school districts more spending flexibility in exchange for closing the achievement gap. O'Connell called Long Beach a model for successful school reform and hopes it can be used in other struggling districts.

• An interactive, Web-based program called Brokers of Expertise, which teachers and districts will be able to turn to when they are struggling in a particular area. But, after a video demonstration of the program, O'Connell said it is years away from completion.

The superintendent touched only in passing on the proposed cuts. But in a conference call with reporters later, he vowed to fight the governor's budget and plan to suspend Proposition 98, the minimum-school funding guarantee approved by voters.

"I am going to be wearing a path out between my office and the Legislature, and my office and the governor's office," he said, calling the cuts "indefensible."