Lights, Camera, Inaction
Some politicians must think Californians are fools. Either that or they
must believe the Titanic wouldn’t have sunk had just the tip of the
iceberg been removed while the rest of it stayed hidden below the
surface.
The politicians I’m referring to are those engaged in vigorous
grandstanding about the city of Bell’s compensation abuses.
So far
we’ve heard calls to publish every government employee salary and to
make Bell give its citizens refunds. But we haven’t heard anything that
would actually make a difference in solving our state’s financial woes.
Lessons in Lawsuits
Cross posted at www.cala.com
This week, CALA released a report on litigation costs to 12 of California’s school districts, finding that in just three fiscal years, these schools spent $98.7 million.
The
report examined verdicts, settlements and outside counsel costs to
Capistrano Unified, Elk Grove Unified, Fresno Unified, Kern High
School, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Merced Union High
School, Modesto City, Poway Unified, San Diego Unified, San Juan
Unified, and Santa Ana Unified.
You
would think at a time when a record number of our schools are in
financial trouble and further education cuts are likely ahead, we would
not allow these litigation costs to go unchecked. California continues
to rank among the most litigious states in every study yet we rank at
the bottom in many measures of student performance. The more dollars
our schools have to pay in litigation costs, the less we have to
improve our students’ performance.
For Whom Does Bell Toll?
On July 15, 2010 the Los Angeles Times broke a story devastating the working class residents of Bell, California.
In
the midst of the Great Recession, in a city where one in four residents
lives below the poverty level, came one of the worst municipal scandals
in recent memory. City council members making $100,000 a year for
part-time work. A police chief making $450,000 a year.
And
the cream of the crop? A city manager making nearly $800,000 a year.
Meanwhile, as Times columnist Steve Lopez noted, the primary industry
in Bell is survival.