Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: California’s Big Educational Dilemma
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
January 26, 2020

Share

California’s largest, most important — and perhaps most troubled — governmental program is the education of nearly 6 million elementary, middle and high school students.
Federal, state and local taxpayers are spending more than $100 billion each year on the assumption, or hope, that the state’s 944 school districts, ranging in size from 400,000 students (Los Angeles Unified) to four (Lincoln Elementary) will adequately educate our kids.


Dan Walters
Opinion
Educationally, California’s academic achievement, as measured by state and federal testing, is mediocre at best. The most troubling aspect is the wide and stubborn “achievement gap” that separates more than 3 million poor and English-learner students from more affluent and English-fluent classmates.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown sponsored an overhaul of school finance aimed, he said, at narrowing the gap by giving school districts more money to be spent on poor-performing students.
Tens of billions of dollars later, however, there’s scant evidence that the money is being fully devoted to that worthy cause, or that it’s having a noticeable impact. A recent report from State Auditor Elaine Howle delved into Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and cited some of its obvious shortcomings.
Brown steadfastly refused to sanction close state monitoring of LCFF spending, citing a self-defined principle of “subsidiarity” — in effect trusting school officials to do the right thing.

School Spending Has Been Increasing Smartly for Most of the Last Decade

Since his departure, however, successor Gavin Newsom has professed more interest in addressing LCFF’s problems, encouraging legislators such as San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber and outside education reform groups who have been critical.
The education establishment has resisted stricter oversight and has, instead, contended that more money — a lot more — is needed to close the gap. Its more or less official goal is about $5,000 more per student or $30 billion more each year from taxpayers, pushing California into the nation’s upper ranks of per-pupil spending.
School unions and others in the establishment will try to persuade voters this year to pass a ballot measure that would modify the state’s iconic Proposition 13 property tax limit and generate more tax revenue from owners of commercial property.
If passed, it would generate roughly $1,000 more per student from a 40% share of the tax increase.
However, even without imposing new taxes, school spending has been increasing smartly for most of the last decade — about 50% — due to a strong economy, a windfall of state personal income taxes and a law that gives schools a big share of the bounty. Newsom’s new budget, unveiled this month, continues that trend.

Several Large Urban School Districts Are in Financial Crisis

That said, much of the new money, including much of the LCFF portion, has been soaked up by increases in teachers’ salaries and non-classroom expenses, especially sharply rising pension and health care costs, as a new report from the Legislature’s budget analyst, Gabriel Petek, points out.
Meanwhile, overall school enrollment is drifting downwards, thanks to a declining birth rate and an exodus of young families from the state, as Petek’s report also notes.
Since most state school aid is based on enrollment, districts that are seeing declines face flattening revenues as their operational costs rise.
Several large urban school districts — Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified and Sacramento Unified — are in financial crisis due to their erratic management, along with a handful of small rural and suburban districts.
Students’ futures as citizens, parents and productive workers and California’s economic and social prosperity depend on an effective school system.
As advisers such as Howle and Petek inform politicians about the schools’ serious educational and financial problems, the question is whether they will be addressed or left to fester.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

Israel Had the Courage to Do What Needed to Be Done

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

10 hours ago

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

10 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Fatal DUI Crash on Trimmer Springs Road

A man is dead and three others are injured following a rollover crash Saturday evening on Trimmer Springs Road that investigators say was ca...

8 hours ago

8 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Fatal DUI Crash on Trimmer Springs Road

Mourners pray during the funeral of a Palestinian killed in what the Gaza health ministry says was Israeli fire near a distribution center in Rafah, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
8 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

Bullet holes mark the front door of Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman, who was shot alongside his wife, Yvette, in what is believed to be an attack by 57-year-old suspect Vance Luther Boelter, who is also the lead suspect in the shooting deaths of senior Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband, Marc, in Champlin, Minnesota, U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans
10 hours ago

Manhunt for Gunman Who Shot Two Minnesota Lawmakers Enters Second Day

Israelis take shelter at the side of a highway as siren sounds following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in central Israel June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
10 hours ago

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

President Donald Trump speaks as he attends a military parade to commemorate the U.S. Army's 250th Birthday, on the day of his 79th birthday, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
10 hours ago

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

12 hours ago

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

14 hours ago

Five Weeknight Dishes: Seven Ingredients or Fewer, Because Summer

14 hours ago

Big Fresno Fair Unveils Second Wave of 2025 Concert Acts

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend