Education...

By Ralph Ellsworth Denney

Education is the key to a healthy democracy and to our future. We must attack the waste and the bloat of the educational bureaucracy, and cap administrative costs to a reasonable level. We must empower our parents, students, and teachers to create a new and dynamic partnership for the future.

We can INCREASE the number of TEACHERS, make classes smaller, bring back the ARTS and SCIENCES to our schools, to energize our students, without raising taxes or increasing spending. We can actually put pencils and paper BACK into the classroom along with other supplies necessary for a modern education, such as computers... How? By attacking the waste and the bloat of the educational bureaucracy, and capping administrative costs to a reasonable level. Simply put, if the expense doesn't directly teach our students... it needs to be cut.

By creating smaller school districts, we will not only save in wasted administrative expenses and bloated executive salaries, but would also make the districts more responsive to the needs of its students and communities. We could then significantly reduce the abhorrent drop out rate (41% in San Diego City Schools), by empowering our parents, students, and teachers... creating a new and dynamic partnership for the future.