Strengthening Our Schools

By Michael A. Jackson

Between all the money taken in by the lottery and borrowed under bond measures, you would think that we would have the best schools in the nation. However, for every dollar input into the system from these sources, almost all of it is removed by reduced school funding from the general fund. With school bond measures continually on the ballot, I finally figured out the warped reasoning behind these bond measures. California's constitution limits yearly spending increases proportionately to population and inflation increases, except for financing bonds. In other words, spending is being increased beyond the constitutional limits through bond measures disguised as an increase in school funding.

We can have the best schools in the nation if we spend the money more efficiently. Currently, more than half of the money budgeted for schools does not actually reach them. I propose that we hold the Department of Education, elected officials and administrators responsible for the current waste. One way to do this is to send checks directly to the schools based on the amount we spend per student; the Department of Education would then have to justify their bloated budget and bill the schools for their operating costs and expenses. This would show each local community, how much money is not going to the children. The local communities would then be able to pressure the local representatives to solve the waste or be voted out at the next election. If you shine a light on the waste and threaten to not vote for your representative, they might actually do their jobs.