Two California Images
Is California a shining star of social togetherness, booming economy, and an envy to the world or a place that’s too expensive to live or do business while suffering with ugly problems of homelessness, disease, filth and poverty? Both pictures contain truth and the public relations feud over the state’s image is in high gear. […]
Charter Schools Don’t Fiscally Distress Regular Public Schools
In their continuing war against charter schools, teacher unions have persistently argued that charter schools, which are mostly non-union, have a large negative financial impact on the regular public school system. New research, however, contradicts this claim. In Sacramento, the California Teachers Association is pushing a package of anti-charter-school bills, including AB 1505, recently passed […]
Make CA Lawmakers Our Housing Guinea Pigs
Most Californians agree that housing is the state’s biggest crisis. But state leaders can’t reach a consensus on how best to address it. And few of us want to be the first to try a new housing policy; we fear new approaches will disrupt our lives. What California needs then is a housing laboratory, […]
Does Spending More on Schools Pay Off?
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget was being wrought, the perennial issue of spending on K-12 education was thrashed out once again. The education establishment – professional educators, their unions, their political allies and sympathetic academicians – complained anew that California schools are being shorted the money they need to raise achievement levels of the […]