Working to reform California's school funding mess

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's secretary of education, says a friend tells him that the only time he opens his mouth is to change feet.

But Riordan's take on what he calls "the mess" in financing California public schools and his hopes for reform are right on.

.."student-based budgeting," a formula based on the real cost of educating every student, plus additional funds for every student in certain groups -- economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, special education students. He also wants to turn budgeting control over to school-site principals.

Still living dangerously after all those years in the trenches.. Untold sums could be saved. We shall see who has the stronger resolve to enact true reform.

and certain relatives of mine harp on me because we've chosen to homeschool (we live in California)... i really try not to be rude, but i swear--next time one of them gives me a hard time i'm going to tell them that i regard California Public Schools about as highly as i regard California Public Housing--and i wouldn't want either for my family...

There is no positive relationship between public school funding and student scores. Out here in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts, the left wing Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) did a study that found that there was no such relationship. What they found was that good scores were a result of the amount of time the parents spent with the kids every night to work on homework.

State and federal regulations, codes and programs get in the way of good teachers doing a great job. Or even a halfway decent one. The teacher is accountable to the principal to the school board, etc. But nothing happens to improve quality, does it?

Mark Twain said
"In the beginning, God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made school boards."

An exception to the rule of poor quality from an overregulated and controlled industry is the school district in San Diego. The superintendent sought to model the kind of individualized attention that he'd received over 30 years ago in the Brooklyn public school system. (You can't get it there now). It has been very successful in San Diego and enrages the establishment (read teachers unions).

Doing your job as a principal is to make sure your staff does a good job and to help weaker teachers get better. No amount of money can substitute good management. Since the principals do not effectively build the skills or knowledge of their staff, it is left to the parents to take charge of their children's destinies and ensure that they get a better education than regulations and code permit.

This is one California teacher who'd love to see some cutting to the state's education budget.

In my twenty years on the job I have never seen such wasteful spending!!!

It is done to such a degree that it now actually interferes with classroom instruction. The amount of administrative personnel has not only mushroomed at the district level but at the school site (literacy & math "coaches" -- former teachers, now highly paid "experts" who don't teach students anymore!!).There are hundreds of experts whom just a year or two ago taught actual students. Now they just gad about the school, armed with clipboards, interrupting classrooms during periods of instruction, and do newly-created, self-perpetuating beauracratic tasks

Do I think that letting school-site personnel decide how to spend this money is better? NO! Not until his sloppy budget is slashed at the state level by a good 25%. Then, they could decide to start cutting the frills, the week-long professional development training seminars at expensive hotels, the lieracy and math coaching positions, and the increased number of assistant principals.

In the northstate, rural communities are suffering from a loss of families. As the family wage resouce development jobs went away, so did the families. Retirees have moved ion to replace them.

Unfortunately, that has left some of our High Schools with less than 100 students. It is impossible to support a full service staff with the income for that level of students.

We have tried to help solve the problem by distance learning. This is a technology where cameras in remote high school locations are linked. Then a math teacher in one high school or the local junior college can conduct class all over. The technology is expensive. Unfortunately, the State/federal government did not approve our most recent grant to expand and improve the program. Pity - seemed like a good solution to me. The technology could also be used for adult junior college courses.

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