There can be leadership as there can be following only when human beings think together about a common theme with a shared purpose to a common result. Leadership is absent because this power of collective thinking in connection with solidarity of emotion and desire is lacking today.  

---John Dewey, 1932

Without Dollars or Sense

The Budget Crisis and California’s School Funding

UCLA/IDEA

Less Dollars

Budget Cuts meancuts to instruction.

Source: Ed Data

Budget Cuts meancuts to programs and services

Conditions in California public schools

in the “good old days”

I worry about the lack of infrastructure and resources

that are available for these people to actually do their jobs.

---Father of California public school student, 2008

Its all about the zip codes in California. It’s good if you live in what you call the exclusive, good areas.

---Mother of California public school student, 2008

How much does California spend?

US California CA Ranking

Per Pupil $* 11372 8826 44

Adjusted Per Pupil $** 10294 8164 46

*Per pupil expenditures for 2009-10 based on projections from NEA

**Adjusted Per Pupil expenditures for 2007 based on Education Week, Quality Counts, 2010.

Source, Education Week, Quality Counts, 2010

Source: CBP*

What Can’t California Buy?

– CA Ranks 50th of all states in students per teacher

– CA Ranks 50th in students per librarian

– CA Ranks 49th in students per counselor

– CA Ranks 46th in students per administrator

Source: NCES 2007*

And Zip Codes Matter(funding is not equally distributed)

Between district

inequalities

Within District Inequality

?????no way to follow the money

But inequalities are evident. . .

Elementary School

% F/R lunch

% African American & Latino

$ per pupil teachers salaries

96th St. 91% 100% $2,368

122nd St. 88% 99% $2,363

Palisades 18% 24% $2,914

Topanga 12% 6% $2,889

Within District InequalitySpending on Teachers in LAUSD

*This analysis based on 2004 data

So why are things so bad?

Where is CA using its tax dollars???

What revenues fund CA schools?

Education $ come from multiple sources:

Source: EdSource, 2004

Could the pie be bigger?

Source: CBP

K-12 Spending as % of personal income*

California: 3.28%United States: 4.25%

California Ranking: 46th

*For 2008-2009, California Budget Project.

Where do we go from here?

A Constitutional Debate in 1849

• Proceeds from Federal Lands “shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.”

• Critics worried that leaving these funds open to other uses might create “too large a fund for the support of education … [and] “might deprive the state of the means of supporting itself without onerous taxation.”

A Commitment to Education

I am decidedly in favor of placing every farthing that we can, and secure it by constitutional provision, in the hands of this community for the purpose of educating our children. Nothing will have a greater tendency to secure prosperity by the State, stability to our institutions, and an enlightened state of society, than by providing for the education of our posterity.

---Mr. McCarver

What do Californians say?

Constitutional Questions Redux:

Robles-Wong v. California

Campaign for Quality Education v. California

Education is a fundamental right under the California Constitution. The State has defined this right through adoption of academic content standards that are “based on the knowledge and skills that pupils will need in order to succeed in the information-based, global economy of the 21st century.” Cal. Educ. Code §60602. Curriculum, instructional materials, teacher training, assessments and accountability measures are all aligned with these academic standards. This standards-based education program clearly defines what all schools must teach and what all students are expected to learn.

A question of framing

http://www.fairschoolsnow.org/