Viewpoints: State must be forced to fund education

09-09-2010

Opinion by John Affeldt and Giselle Quzada/Sacramento Bee

John Affeldt is managing attorney at Public Advocates and a lead counsel for the plaintiffs in CQE v. California. Giselle Quezada is a board member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, a plaintiff in the suit.

As California students head back to school, they will be boarding a ship sinking below constitutionally minimum levels of quality and fairness. Once the envy of the nation with one of the best-funded and highest-performing school systems, today California is racing to the bottom – 44th of 50 states in per student spending levels and 46th in education spending as a percentage of personal income. Starved for funding, districts cannot afford to hire adequate staff. California has the lowest staff-to-student ratio in the nation, taking together teachers, administrators and support personnel like counselors, librarians and nurses. Our classrooms last year had 7.5 more students per teacher and were over 50 percent larger than those in the rest of the nation. There are simply not enough adults in the system to deliver a quality education to everyone. (more…)

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Viewpoints: State must be forced to fund education

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