History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
The disaster California schools face, and a teacher's call to action
- 12-17-2010
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Guest blog by Anthony Cody/Washington Post
California Gov.-elect Jerry Brown has a better understanding than most politicians of education issues, as we discovered last year when he sent some cogent advice to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. However, he can't seem to find a way to conjure $25 (or perhaps now $28) billion out of thin air, and is warning educators that the schools will suffer a 20-25 percent cut in funding next year. California already is in 49th place in the nation in terms of student/teacher ratio, and is dead last in the ratio of students to school librarians. These cuts are likely to move us below Puerto Rico and Guam. Los Angeles Unified, which already has a $142 million deficit THIS year, will lose another $200 million. State treasurer Bill Lockyer said, "Those who wanted less government, you're going to get your wish. In other communities that are willing to put something on the ballot to make up that difference, they're going to have a higher service level." This will mean that wealthy communities are likely to scramble to come up with emergency funding to avoid the worst impacts, while impoverished communities will find their overburdened schools utterly destitute. (more…)
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