http://www.calwatchdog.com/2010/08/20/lausd-spends-30k-per-student/
By JOHN SEILER / Aug 2010
The research by Adam Schaeffer of the Cato Institute’s Center for Education Freedom seemed shocking: The Los Angeles Unified School District spent $29,780 per student in fiscal year 2007-08. That’s way above the $10,000 as advertised by the school district, and as used in most studies.
The $29,780 per student figure means a class of 25 students would spend $744,500 a year
Comedy if it were not true
Basically, what Schaeffer found was that the LAUSD doesn’t count capital spending,
Why isn’t this money accounted for in the usual per-pupil tallies? “They act as if its ‘bond revenue. Oh, it’s not tax money’,”
LAUSD responds
Spokesperson Lydia Ramos replied. “Most school districts don’t count capital funding” in budget reports. “We obviously are doing our best to pass every dollar down to the classroom.”
I pointed out that, when I buy something at Walmart, the price includes the costs of capital spending for buildings.
“That’s not how we view our work,” she replied. And she said of the money sent for capital construction from Sacramento, “That’s really a state decision.
I brought up Schaeffer’s number of $29,780 per student and asked if that was correct. “You’re using a methodology that only you are using,” Ramos replied. “No, that’s not accurate. That’s not what we’re doing. I’m going to have to let you go. This is an issue to take up with the state, or your local district, to see what they are doing.” [This is the first time in my 35 years of journalism that an official spokesperson has hung up on me.]
Because LAUSD gets both state and federal tax dollars, its spending is of interest to those outside the district’s boundaries.
Sorry Lydia, just like the success rate of education in California, your "best" crossed into criminal incompetence territory about 30 years ago...
How about a 30% cut instead?