California’s local governments — cities especially — and school districts have been packing ballots with tax increase measures in recent years and another batch is on tap for next year. Voters have, more often than not, bought into officials’ pleas for more revenue and promises to spend it on popular...
As California Spends Billions on High-Needs Students, Calls Grow for More Oversight
Seven years after California started pumping billions of dollars into schools with the neediest students — an attempt to narrow a chronic academic achievement gap — a new state audit has found that the state’s landmark school funding law isn’t adequately ensuring that targeted money is actually going to the disadvantaged students...
California’s Pension Debt Cannot Be Ignored
A decade ago, at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s request, I supervised a graduate student team that performed a comprehensive analysis of public pensions in California. The goal was to calculate California’s pension debt, the difference between assets and liabilities. The team’s conclusions: the unfunded liability was over $500 billion—seven times the number officially...
Pension Spiking Ban Upheld by California Supreme Court
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court on Monday upheld a decision by state lawmakers to rollback one way for public workers to pad their pensions, but avoided ruling on the larger issue of whether retirement benefits can be taken away once promised. At issue in the unanimous decision was...
Walters: School Districts Set Poor Example for Students
There’s bitter irony in the loud complaints from California school officials and unions – particularly in large urban districts – about not having enough money. Schools are supposed to be teaching our children how to become productive and responsible adults, but by overspending revenues, blaming others for their fiscal problems...
Walters: State Tax Reforms or State Tax Increases?
There is a substantial list of governance issues that former Gov. Jerry Brown said were important, but that he left on his desk for successor Gavin Newsom. For instance, although he and the Legislature enacted a very modest reform of public employee pensions, he repeatedly said it was only a...
Can California Afford Newsom's Vision for Schools? Here's Your K-12 Primer.
Early childhood education. A top-tier national ranking for K-12 per-pupil spending. A data system that would track kids from nursery school through state universities. California’s Legislature won’t reconvene until 2019, but the Christmas wish list for public schools is already long and pricey. On the first day of session, Democratic lawmakers...