[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Julia Rosen

Dan Walters is out with a column arguing that our schools have plenty of money already. He describes the education community and Democratic legislators as "howling" about Schwarzenegger's proposed bugdet, which slashes education spending and has already resulted in 20,000 education professionals getting pick slips.

Naturally, the Republicans are attempting to claim that we are already spending too much on school administration costs and education reforms. They point to California's poor scores on standardized tests as a reason to cut school funding even more. Somehow logic seems to be eluding them.

Walters bases his column on numbers released by the Census Bureau, based on what he calls "hard numbers", but when you dig into them, they actually undermine Walter's argument. (check the flip)

The Census Bureau report strongly refutes the oft-cited "fact" that California is near the bottom in per-pupil school spending. The national average was $9,138 in 2005-06. California was at $8,486, with New York the highest at $14,884 and Utah the lowest at $5,437 - one of 22 states, in fact, that fell below California's level.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Dan Walters is out with a column arguing that our schools have plenty of money already.  He describes the education community and Democratic legislators as "howling" about Schwarzenegger's proposed bugdet, which slashes education spending and has already resulted in 20,000 education professionals getting pick slips.

Naturally, the Republicans are attempting to claim that we are already spending too much on school administration costs and education reforms.  They point to California's poor scores on standardized tests as a reason to cut school funding even more.  Somehow logic seems to be eluding them.

Walters bases his column on numbers released by the Census Bureau, based on what he calls "hard numbers", but when you dig into them, they actually undermine Walter's argument.  (check the flip)

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

This state desperately needs a big boost to our education funding. There are some greatly needed reforms and Arnold wants to make this year, the year of education. But that is going to be tough. The scope of the problems are very large and so is our current budget deficit. That said, he is still pushing forward and his blue ribbon panel has just released a proposal, complete with a $6 billion price tag. Merc:

Setting the stage for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Year of Education," a panel he appointed has proposed a sweeping set of reforms that will help define the debate, including performance-based pay for teachers, universal preschool and full-day kindergarten.

A blueprint of the recommendations obtained by the Mercury News also calls for:

• Billions more to be spent each year to educate English-learners and other low-income students who are lagging behind more affluent peers.

• A sophisticated new data system to better track students' successes and failures.

• A school "inspection system" similar to those used in New York City and several European countries. To increase the accountability of schools, the results of the inspections would immediately be made available to the public.

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