Dan Walters writes that teacher’s union minions have Gov. Schwarzenegger in their sights again:

State Schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell and Controller Steve Westly released the report indicating that an increasing number of school districts are overspending their revenues - a precursor to the kind of insolvency that leads to state receivership. But while they paid lip service to the irresponsibility of local school officials involved, they spent most of their time blaming Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying that the fiscal woes stem from his shortchanging schools on state aid.

It was pure balderdash, part of the campaign being orchestrated by the California Teachers Association and other elements of the politically powerful Education Coalition to smear the Republican governor in advance of the Nov. 8 election on his “year of reform” ballot measures.

Westly just happens to be running for governor.

Walters goes on to say that the new report repeats the old “California schools are underfunded” line. We showed in an earlier post, “The Numbers California’s Teachers Don’t Want You To Know,” that is simply not true:

California ranked #29 of 50 states (plus DC) with per-student spending of $7,244; the US average was $7,875 and the median $7,428. The median is the more relevant comparison because the average (the mean) is pulled up by DC, which spends nearly $2,000 per student more than any state. California spends $184 (2.5%) per student per year less than the median — a pretty insignificant amount.

One other bit of data is interesting. Expenditure per-capita can serve as a rough proxy for taxation level, and here again, California is near the mean — this time slightly above it. Table H-8, “Per Capita Expenditures of State and Local Government for Public K-12 Schools” shows California #22 of 51 at $1,273; the US average was $1,298 (pulled up $42 by Alaska) with a median is $1,235. In short, the citizens of California are not short-changing their schools.

The problem is not one of underfunding but of how resources are deployed. As Walters writes:

Consistently, school board members and administrators in those problem districts have signed contracts with the CTA and other unions that outstripped revenue expectations, have refused to close schools as enrollments declined, and in other ways have failed to act prudently.

Walters may be blaming school boards when, in some cases, misallocation of local education budgets can be laid at the feet of the CTA membership. We showed an example yesterday of how teachers are controlling the school board in Redondo Beach and dumping a superintendent they don’t like. Wherever the union similarly flexes its power, the result will be what Walters describes: sweetheart contracts and a reluctance to take any action that would affect teacher’s jobs. Supporting evidence: California public school teachers have the highest average pay in the nation.

If the next governor owes major chits to the CTA, expect the dysfunction evident in Redondo Beach to go statewide.

Stepping back, Westly and O’Connell are attempting to frame the educational piece of the upcoming gubernatorial campaign on the grounds that all the schools need is more money. But experience across the country shows that additional funding is mostly unrelated to improved performance. Their inability to recognize any other solution evidences their lack of interest in real reform.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 18th, 2005 at 12:21 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under California Schemin', (Un)education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.