California has spent tens of billions of extra dollars on its K-12 school system in recent years on promises that its abysmal levels of academic achievement – especially those of disadvantaged children – would be improved. And what have those massive expenditures – a 50 percent increase in per-pupil spending – and a massive reworking of school curricula accomplished? Fewer than half of California’s children are meeting English standards and fewer than 38 percent are making the grade in math. Not much, the latest results from annual testing indicate.