April 29, 2013 By John Seiler The state supposedly "balanced" its budget only with the Prop. 30 tax increase. Three California cities declared bankruptcy last year. Businesses keep streaming out to greener pastures. So what does the California Legislature do? Road trip! Steven Greenhut writ...
Posts Tagged ‘schools’Senate pushing nutty new school-finance schemeMonday, April 29th, 2013L.A. Times’ analysis on crazy school borrowing omits why it’s doneThursday, November 29th, 2012Nov. 29, 2012 By Chris Reed The Los Angeles Times has printed an analysis piece on the insane borrowing by dozens of California school districts using "capital appreciation bonds" (CABs), which delay any repayment for 20 years and often cost 10 times or more the amount borrowed. It does a good j... Run a restaurant like a school?Monday, April 2nd, 2012 April 2, 2012 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO -- California's public schools continue to lay off teachers, in a process that is as convoluted and illogical as one would expect in a bureaucratic system in which the needs of the students falls fairly low on the list of priorities. That's my takeaw... More Taxes for Skoolz?Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 Commentary FEB. 7, 2012 By JOHN SEILER I'm enjoying the tiff between Gov. Jerry Brown and the other tax-increase forces in the state, in particular activist lawyer Molly Munger and the California Teachers Association. As Dan Walters notes today, Brown's $7 billion tax hike still wouldn't pr... Will Ed Reform Tax Increase Pass?Wednesday, November 30th, 2011John Seiler: Sometimes polls make sense; sometimes they don't. Almost a year from the November 2012 election, polls on what people think of tax increases don't make sense. That's because people aren't focusing on a specific tax increase. And they aren't subjected to the blizzard of ads, pro an... School Funding Reform Skewered by CTAMonday, July 11th, 2011 JULY 11, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI In California, all good ideas for school reform seem to end up in the corner wearing a dunce cap. Back on May 3, I reported on promising development in state Assembly Bill 18, a proposal by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) to shift from schoo... Will Crashing Real Estate Kill Prop. 13?Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI A demogogue is a leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace. And a demographer is someone who studies the characteristics of human populations, such as size, growth, density, distribution, and vital st... Will School Block Grants Replace Earmarks?Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 MAY 3, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI In a February report, the Legislative Analyst's Office charged that “virtually every aspect of K-14 (public school) mandate finance system is broken.” The report was titled, "Education Mandates: Overhauling a Broken System." The LAO report emphatically sta... Court Helps Kids in Bad SchoolsFriday, March 25th, 2011 John Seiler: Here's part of a new article in the City Journal by Larry Sand of the California Teacher Empowerment Network. Given California's poor performance -- 49th of 50 states on national tests -- something has to be done. ------------------------------ LARRY SAND One Small Strike Aga... |