| Los Angeles County, CA | June 5, 2012 Election |
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Pass Or PayBy Jay L. SternCandidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 46 |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
Pass or Pay is a means to encourage parental participation in their child's education. It is intended to cure the soaring course repeat rate (at taxpayer expense) while saving the state approximately $ 1 Billion per year.Presently, statewide, we have about 40% of our high school students who have to repeat classes in order to graduate. These students did not "get it" the first time around. Based on data available from the Los Angeles Unified School District, the cost to reteach one student one course is $536. Many, not all, of these repeat students take the course two, three or more times. Why do they repeat? Ask them. They will tell you they refuse to study enough to pass. Statewide, the cost to reteach is about $1 Billion per year. Who pays the cost of reteaching? We do, the taxpayers. If we did not have to reteach so many students, we would have money to offer elective classes, or vocational training courses to help the students actually be qualified for work when they graduate. And that's another thing: Graduation. Statewide, the high school graduation rate is said to be about 71%. Santa Barbara brags about a 90% graduation rate. In the San Fernando Valley, it is lower: somewhere between about 53% to 63%. I know graduating seniors who can barely read their diploma! Most are unable to divide one number by another! Pass-or-Pay is a proposal to improve education, promote parental involvement and allow a wider range of courses to be offered. Very simply, those students who DELIBERATELY fail their courses shall be required to pay to retake them. The key is the word "deliberately." Pass-or-Pay makes allowances for special needs students or English language learners, among others. But a student who refuses to attend class, will not complete homework, goofs off on standardized (and other) exams and is generally contemptuous of the educational experience will need to pay the cost to be retaught. I am positive that this simple change will prompt parents to become more involved in their child's education. They will demand that the student put away the games and do their homework. They will want to see test results and will be in more frequent contact with the teachers. According to those who are constitutional scholars, the concept appears feasible. For more information, go to http://www.passorpay.blogspot.com. |
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