Currently browsing Adequacy suit
California’s budget woes hit neediest students the hardest
(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Californians have been hit with so much bad budget news these past three years it’s easy to assume that we’re all suffering more or less equally. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to our schools. Essentially every fiscal maneuver our policymakers have undertaken to respond to the budget crisis has delivered more pain to the neediest schools and students. Even before the traumatic $18 billion in accumulated cuts to school funding since 2009, the underlying school finance system had devolved to one that disproportionately denies low-income students and English learners an equal shot at learning the state’s academic content standards. Two constitutional challenges currently winding through the courts are confronting the fact that our districts are underfunded overall and that high-poverty districts and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, Adequacy suit, Commentary, Getting Down To Facts studies, Revenue and taxes
Brown’s school finance reform has the right intent but major flaws
February 10th, 2013 | 5 Comments | By Bob Blattner / commentary
Fresh on the heels of having saved – at least for now – California’s public education system through passage of his Proposition 30, Governor Jerry Brown is rededicating himself to the task of tearing down and redesigning the twisted maze that currently serves as the K-12 funding system. This is a wonderful goal, but enthusiasm for the general concept may unfortunately be blinding proponents to the specific, significant flaws in the administration’s proposal. Although the “Local … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adequacy suit, Commentary, Funding and Taxation, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)