Posted on 05/16/2005 2:24:48 PM PDT by calcowgirl
The multimillion-dollar campaign paid by starving teachers unions has finally placed our sadly neglected schools at the center of the budget debate.
Across California, children are bringing home notes warning of dire consequences if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's scorched-earth budget is approved -- a budget that slashes Proposition 98 public-school spending from $42.2 billion this year all the way down to $44.7 billion next year.
That should be proof enough that our math programs are suffering.
As a public-school parent, I have given this crisis a great deal of thought and have a modest suggestion to help weather these dark days.
Maybe -- as a temporary measure only -- we should spend our school dollars on our schools. I realize that this is a radical departure from current practice, but desperate times require desperate measures.
The governor proposed spending $10,084 per student from all sources. Devoting all of this money to the classroom would require turning tens of thousands of school bureaucrats, consultants, advisers and specialists onto the streets with no means of support or marketable job skills, something that no enlightened social democracy should allow.
So I will begin by excluding from this discussion the entire budget of the State Department of Education, as well as the pension system, debt service, special education, child care, nutrition programs and adult education. I also propose setting aside $3 billion to pay an additional 30,000 school bureaucrats $100,000 per year with the proviso that they stay away from the classroom and pay their own hotel bills at conferences.
This leaves a mere $6,937 per student, which, for the duration of the funding crisis, I propose devoting to the classroom.
To illustrate how we might scrape by at this subsistence level, let's use a hypothetical school of 180 students with only $1.2 million to get through the year.
We have all seen the pictures of filthy bathrooms, leaky roofs, peeling paint and crumbling plaster to which our children have been condemned. I propose that we rescue them from this squalor by leasing out luxury commercial office space. Our school will need 4,800 square feet for five classrooms (the sixth class is gym). At $33 per foot, an annual lease will cost $158,400.
This will provide executive washrooms, around-the-clock janitorial service, wall-to-wall carpeting, utilities and music in the elevators. We'll also need new desks to preserve the professional ambience.
Next, we'll need to hire five teachers, but not just any teachers. I propose hiring only associate professors from the California State University at their level of pay. Since university professors generally assign more reading, we'll need 12 of the latest edition, hardcover books for each student at an average $75 per book, plus an extra $5 to have the student's name engraved in gold leaf on the cover.
Since our conventional gym classes haven't stemmed the childhood obesity epidemic, I propose replacing them with an annual membership at a private health club for $39.95 per month. Finally, we'll hire an $80,000 administrator with a $40,000 secretary because, well, I don't know exactly why, but we always have.
Our bare-bones budget comes to this:
5 classrooms -- $158,400 150 desks @ $130 -- $19,500 180 annual health club memberships @ $480 -- $86,400 2,160 textbooks @ $80 -- $172,800 5 CSU associate professors @ $67,093 -- $335,465 1 administrator -- $80,000 1 secretary -- $40,000 24 percent faculty and staff benefits -- $109,312 Offices, expenses and insurance -- $30,000 TOTAL -- $1,031,877L
The school I have just described is the school we're paying for. Maybe it's time to ask why it's not the school we're getting.
Other, wiser, governors have made the prudent decision not to ask such embarrassing questions of the education-industrial complex because it makes them very angry. Apparently the unions believe that with enough of a beating, Gov. Schwarzenegger will see things the same way.
Perhaps. But there's an old saying that you can't fill a broken bucket by pouring more water into it. Maybe it's time to fix the bucket.
Tom McClintock represents the 19th District in the California state Senate. Write to him by e-mail at tom.mcclintock@sen.ca.gov.
I think there are lots of more conservative people than Arnold.
The big question would be, which could be electable having some cross over vote?
We know it will never be McClintock as a choice, but they should get cracking on the future. I do see Arnold as only the first steps in the right direction, he sure won't be able to do it all by any stretch of the imagination.
McClintock is dead in the water, but the great question would be "Who is the Republican party developing as talent for the future of this state? Maybe RonDog or others have specifics on that.
Bookmarked!
ahhh,,Washington, the state of "emergency", where another election was effectively stolen and we now witness a rush to pass all kinds of questionable legislation to further restrain the will of sane people.
Shades of California since the Recall, all in the guise of reforming the state. Oh yeah, it's being reformed alright, as a GanGReen state..
It ain't easy being an extremist, the pay is lousy (like none), the criticism harsh, but at the end of the day, at east I know some folks do get it and that makes it worth it.
That being said, I have oft thought what is the fascination wth some folks for this forum and why do they want to neuter the conservative movement by hijacking it in the name of moderation and who do they really serve?
People liked him, but nobody knew him. He spent the whole, abbreviated campaign speaking slogans, catchphrases, and vague generalities.
My honest answer regarding McClintock and the way I think of him is as follows.
I used to find him interesting to listen to his fine conservative ideals. I used to wonder why he couldn't get votes and figured he was a good conservative with lousy self marketing skills. He seemed a good guy to me.
When the recall happened, no big deal, many were in there going for it.
As time went on, common sense told you who would not win.
Last I remember of McClintock was that he was lucky if he could get double digits of ANY kind if he stayed in.
The party and many people asked him to leave so the candidate for the Republican party would be unified.
Being Arnold had at least 4 times McClintock's voters, Arnold was the one expected to stay.
In the end, McC never left the race. He could have spoiled it in favor of Bustamante by splitting the vote and ONLY Arnold's incredible draw on the Dem side saved the Republicans in this race.
McC did not do what was good for his party, he divided, did not unite this race and burned lots of bridges and lost all trust of some that liked him before like myself.
Maybe the Republican party had the idea of who McC was before the recall election and the people had to learn it for themselves. Lesson learned, McClintock is out.
That would be the history of this.
Catch phrases which reflected his goals for the state.
He seems to be getting a lot done against all kids of opposition.
In addition he is doing the state a big favor by having Democrats/union going bust spending many millions trying to fight a public relations war with him.
Please define "Conservative Democrat"? And what on earth have these "Conservative Democrats" done for conservatism?
You consider people that want responsible spending, value property rights, don't believe in unconstitutional borrowing to pay day-to-day government expenses, etc. to be "extreme third party types"????
Are you one of these "Conservative Democrats"?
Nope, there is a whole group of us.
See post #215 to support my position.
You have yet to show any source for your conclusions. Source, please!
Thanks. I guessed the campaign funds were starting to flow again.
I know. That's why I asked you. Come on, you're the proponent of tiny steps to paradise: reveal the next step. The Dems have a whole bench of second tier political hacks, so where are the next generation of Republicans backed by the CRP, who will faithfully follow The Plan?
Arnold isn't a step in the right direction, he's an example of the CRP ceding ground. He's left of Wilson, Simon, and Dukemejian, none of whom could be described as rock-ribbed Republicans. Who is the CRP going to settle for next in the quixotic hope of merely holding the governorship?
>>But then, so would my cat.
ROFL! :-)
I'm much more in favor of Arnold over Bustamante.
Your under the missconception that McClintock has any votes or matters.
I do agree that at the grass roots level the Republicans need to shake the tree and develop talent.
If they don't have some people being trained now, it would be the reason remove the current leadership behind the scenes and to start cracking and getting this done for the future of all.
Tom did the right thing staying IN the race. How many "yes" on the recall votes do you think might have been lost if Tom's supporters, ill-satisfied by Schwarzenegger, decided to stay home?
And why the deference to a political novice simply because he enjoys high poll numbers? Tom had good numbers too, in fact he had the highest favorable and lowest unfavorable numbers of all the candidates.
And you think the best regarded candidate bar none, and best spokesman for the ideas the GOP supposes to stand for ought to drop ought?
Bustamante was NEVER going to win, and Tom certainly never would have engineered that.
Schwarzenegger won because of RINOs desperate for a win at any cost, and because too many conservatives sold out their principles to back a candidate that people only knew on the film screen as a big name and friendly smile.
I have oft thought what is the fascination wth some folks for this forum and
why do they want to neuter the conservative movement by hijacking it
in the name of moderation and who do they really serve?
We need more guys like this in the republican party and less like GWB.
That is a reasonable question. Unfortunately the answer is probably "no one" since the party appears to be in shambles at the present time.
Another good question would be; If Schwarzenegger decides to run for reelection how will he get past the Republican primary?
That picture is a keeper!
C.O.--I can't find your other post of the election analysis. Can you help?
Things like $20 billion in new taxes? Undercutting the Driver's License initiative? Continuing to spend in excess of revenue? Imposing onerous enviralmental plans? New gun control legislation?
Oh, I know! You must be referring to his promise of a top-to-bottom publicly transparent review of the Governor's office proceedings. No, wait, he hasn't gotten to that yet. Maybe his veto of the license plate increase? No, that was done by the legislature to forestall an initiative to make it permanent. Must be his refusal to overspend in excess of what is already overspent on the Teacher's Union Security Act. Or his yet to be voted on slate of initiatives.
Here's the things that got Grey kicked out: Spending more than we take in - we still do. Bad energy deals - some progress. Bad union contracts - problem kicked down the road. Insufficient power generation - no change. Licenses for illegal aliens - still playing footsie with Gil Cedillo.
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