By Vince Wallgren
November 17, 2011 (La Mesa)--As the public education establishment’s quandary over shortfalls in funding reaches critical mass, the time may be ripe for introducing sweeping changes to the entire system.
During a recent broadcast of the Ladona Harvey Show, a education establishment insider asserted (paraphrasing) that among the more important elements in revamping the education system is a higher degree of parent - teacher communication; and that parents must be more involved in the overall education experience.
The dichotomy explicit in that assertion is dripping with irony. Signed into law by Gov. Brown, one sentence of AB 499 states: “A minor who is 12 years of age or older may consent to medical care related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease.” Thus, as the education establishment—on the one hand—clamors for parental involvement, the other hand, via AB 499, negates parental consent when a determination is made that a 12 year-old “needs” to be vaccinated with Gardasil. Incredible!
Considering that the USA ranks—as compared to other industrialized nations—but average in reading and science and is below average in math, the impetus for a long needed drastic remodeling of the entire public education paradigm is long overdue. When the specter of comparatively mediocre grade level performance is further exacerbated by significant shortfalls in funding, the naturally ensuing suggestions as to the what, when, where, why and how to face this crisis are sure to reveal exactly where the education establishment stands.
San Diego Unified fired the first salvos; initially suggesting teacher layoffs, then rescinding that idea only to further suggest entire school closures, but then to be faced with a near parent-teacher revolt and, at least for the time being, backing away from that idea also. So what might be the alternatives?
With the recent downgrade of San Diego Unified’s credit rating and the worrisome state of California’s economy, it should be abundantly clear that further funding will not be forthcoming. But Unified gave clear signs of their intentions: offer up students, teachers and entire schools as the current economy’s sacrificial lambs. Incredible!
Within San Diego County there are forty-two (42) distinct and separate school districts; all of which are subordinate to and receive direction and leadership from the San Diego County Office of Eductation (SDCOE). Not only is this arrangement a model of bureaucratic inefficiency, but it should also be viewed as a major overhead cost in the delivery of public education services to San Diego County’s students, residents and taxpayers.
For example, SDCOE has commissioned a Strategic Plan that calls for building district level capacity to train school staff on how to engage parents in their child’s education. Really? What this strategy implies is that school-level administrators and teachers are currently incapable of encouraging parents to be more involved in their children’s education. What does this strategy accomplish? Nothing that has not been said and done before at every K-12 school in America. Yet this “reinvent-the-wheel” initiative is a perfect example of the waste that is pervasive within a multi-level bureaucratic system that drains resources and accomplishes little-to-nothing that can’t be achieved at the school level.
According to Ed-Data (The Education Data Partnership), the funds allocated to California’s K-12 education programs (not to include food services or facilities costs) is a whopping $47.2 Billion -- an overall average of $8,452 per student for school year 2009-2010. But uncertainty lends to the prospect of a dire future; and as long as current economic trends continue, austerity will, by necessity, become the byword of public education. Thus, the first step in making decisions proportionate with future budget cost saving measures is to better define exactly who has responsibility for the education of San Diego County’s students; with special emphasis in evaluating the degree to which SDCOE and school district(s) participation is further justified.
SDCOE’s projected budget for school year 2011-2012 is $286,431,090. There are 496,995 students in the 747 public schools of San Diego County. Cost per student per year for SDCOE’s services is $576.32. According to Ed-Data, the forty-two school districts of San Diego County spent in 2009-2010 a grand total of $3,914,417,109 ÷ 496,995 = $7876.17 per year per student. Below list applies.
2. Bonsall Union Elementary $13,210,769
4. Cajon Valley Union $123,745,410
6. Carlsbad Unified $83,371,514
8. Coronado Unified $26,039,820
10. Del Mar Union Elementary $39,600,564
12. Escondido Union $142,553,978
Vince Wallgren resides in La Mesa, is seventy-two, a retired USN CPO, has been married for forty-six years, and is the father of four and grandfather of eight. He's a student of history, loves to write, and describes himself as “a devoted in-your-face critic of government institutions that fail to achieve stated goals.”The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org
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