there's no place in this issue for schools, and i really think this stance reeks of the "what about the children???" tactic. Any of the tax revenue increases directly related to these casinos will increase the state general fund, which is not how schools are funded. personally, (in terms of overall school funding) i realize CA public schools are garbage, but the state has a long track record of throwing money at schools, and nothing has changed for the better. i believe that future public school funding initiatives need to focus on incentives which will encourage the schools to actually achieve results (not "no child left behind" crap, but actual results) through more efficient spending of tax dollars- not just increasing their budget pool.
[color:white] *cue dj anna choking me* [/color]
CA use to have the #1 schools in the US and the most funding and then Prop. 13 cut the one tax that pays for them, property taxes. The state has been trying to play catch up ever since then. The "throwing money at them" is actually part of that catching up, and CA still isn't to where it use to be in school funding per pupil. Besides the No Child Left Behind, Oakland schools also have History and English assessments for 10th and 11th graders, they also have a CA exit exam which all students in the state must pass to graduate. They're going crazy with all these tests to quantify that they are working. The tests are crap and there's WAAAYYY too many of them, but the government is not going to agree to any other form of assessment for the schools.
Comments
CA use to have the #1 schools in the US and the most funding and then Prop. 13 cut the one tax that pays for them, property taxes. The state has been trying to play catch up ever since then. The "throwing money at them" is actually part of that catching up, and CA still isn't to where it use to be in school funding per pupil. Besides the No Child Left Behind, Oakland schools also have History and English assessments for 10th and 11th graders, they also have a CA exit exam which all students in the state must pass to graduate. They're going crazy with all these tests to quantify that they are working. The tests are crap and there's WAAAYYY too many of them, but the government is not going to agree to any other form of assessment for the schools.