Political & Elections

BigG · Guru

RE: California schools

Abyss · Senior Member

If I had to guess - storkes.

soccerguy315 · Guru

I wonder where the huge amount of students in california schools come from? hmmm.....

Abyss · Senior Member

Let the bloodbath begin.

SamuraiLandshark · Guru

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-schools-20101220,0,2566331.story

Our schools have been backed into a corner. Until Gov.-electJerry Brown spoke last week about how shocking the state's budget crisis is, and how yet more of the financial pain might fall on schools, the state had been pretending that education was going on as usual, with some snips and some trims and some new freedom to spend sums previously earmarked for specific programs. But that is a gross understatement of the severe problems facing California's schools, and we're no longer at the point where they can make their finances whole by cutting extraneous items and putting the administrative budget on a diet.

Many school districts, including the gargantuan Los Angeles Unified School District, have been forced to cut eight to 10 instructional days from the usual 180-day schedule. They have placed teachers and other staff on furlough. They don't have money for necessary janitorial work, much less art supplies. Primary-grade classes capped at 20 students are already a fading memory in many schools, as class sizes bump up toward 30 and near 40 in some classes for older students. California has long spent a little less money per student than the national average; now it ranks even lower: 43rd. The top-spending state, New York, lavishes more than $15,000 on each student.