Posted on 03/13/2007 7:16:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A major overhaul of California's schools will cost tens of billions of dollars more per year, but money alone won't fix the many problems facing the nation's largest public education system, according to a series of landmark studies to be released Wednesday.
A summary of the findings and some of the studies' supporting material was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The documents include several estimates of how much money it would take to boost student performance so all California schools meet the Department of Education's goal.
The studies are part of a package requested by political leaders to inform the Gov.'s Committee on Education Excellence. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named the bipartisan panel in 2005 to investigate the myriad challenges facing California's public school system.
They are contained in a 1,700-page report, coordinated by Stanford University, that is scheduled to be released during separate events on Wednesday and Thursday.
The package of studies is intended to kickstart a discussion of major reforms to California's public schools but appears to make no concrete recommendations. Instead, the material will be turned over to the committee, which is expected to issue reform suggestions later this year.
The cost figures come from panels of educators who estimated how much it would take to bring all California schools up to a score of 800 on the state's Academic Performance Index, the state's system of gauging student proficiency in reading and math.
Two estimates, both based on interviews with educators, estimate the cost of meeting the state's achievement goals at an additional $23 billion to $32 billion a year. It is not clear, however, whether that money would bring all students up to the federal goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Despite the $3 million investment by groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the studies appear to draw no clear new conclusions about the best way to reform the system.
Several are intended to be informative - for example to help the 20-member education committee understand California's complicated education financing system, which is unique in the nation.
They review everything from inequalities in school funding to whether teachers unions contribute to the prevalence of underqualified teachers in poor and minority schools.
Others repeat common complaints from educators and school districts: that the state has too many categorical programs that tie up money; that teachers need targeted professional development to deal with a growing number of English learners; and that California lags other states in its collection of student-specific data.
California already spends nearly half its annual budget on education, a total of $66 billion in the current fiscal year.
fyi
The more people who attend public schools, the more money they get, and the more taxes are raised to fund them.
Is this another reason to homeschool?
Nothing cheap about insane immigration.
Increase school funding a thousandfold tomorrow and those students who don't want to be educated still won't be educated.
Cut all public school funding tomorrow and those students who want to be educated will find a way to get educated.
Californians could just accept the rise in taxes and move on, or move out of California. Choices, choices …
Business owners must be beating themselves in the head and at the same time looking for a safe haven in states east.
This would be a good time to get rid of the Dept. of Edu. ;)
I guess that means "yes."
If they thinnk it'll take that much money to fix the problem, then it is another reason to homeschool.
My solution is cheaper. Teach the 3 R's and allow discpline. Kick out the illegals.
Half the time most of the don't show up for work, yet scream and whine if they have to attend a conference on a weekend.
Why don't they recommend streamlining the financing process.
I don't know, maybe something simple like going back to having each school district pay its own way with property taxes.
And if there needs to be a little socialistic "equalization" then they should just come up with a simple formula and give out funds accordingly with no strings, regulations, rules, etc. attached.
If the funds get misspent at the local level then hopefully the local folks will see to it that this doesn't happen for long.
Or they can all go out and buy pizza and beer! And least some people will get some real benefit out of CA's education system.
I know several people who work in public schools in California. They could throw 80 gazillion trillion skillion dollars at it...it ain't gonna help.
See how easy that was? Sometimes complex problems have simple solutions.
Reforming public schools is similar to squeezing a cowpie with your fingers. You can make it into a different shape, but it's still sh*t and all you've done is get your hands dirty.
Privatize.
Two estimates, both based on interviews with educators, estimate the cost of meeting the state's achievement goals at an additional $23 billion to $32 billion a year.I'm sure there aren't any inflated estimates here. No - these are "scouts honor" honest folks here, right; none of them would be caught in their office watching gay porn surrounded by sex toys and selling speed to children or anything at all like that, right?
Why the cynicism and skepticism? I believe them. I'm holding a bake sale to help raise funds this Saturday!
Not for the NEA but for NRTW.org....
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