| Why are unions a good thing? They seem to hold students as hostages and at random. It’s pretty gnarly. CA unfunded pension liabilities may be around $100 trillion https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherburnham/2018/07/30/t... It has made CA into a nanny state. Gov. Newsom now wants to provide pre school education for the first four years. Where is the money for all this? After school tutoring classes have become a cottage industry in affluent cities. In low income districts, schools are everything from day care to free meals. Meanwhile school funding is highest in low income districts (LAUSD is 17.xxk per student ..OUSD is 14.5k/student) and on the lower scale in affluent areas(Bay Area: 8-9k/student) as property tax and general fund gets redistributed. Which is fine as society must bear the burden of educating all. But it seems like it’s all going for the care and feeding of union backed retired teachers. Unions have become so powerful that in LA, it’s a strike. In Fremont, teachers refusing to do more their hours...in Oakland...well. That’s a huge can of worms that no one can understand or fix. I don’t even know where to start with Oakland’s problems. So clearly throwing money at ‘public education’ isn’t working because there isn’t a whole lot of educating going on for that money. Interestingly there is just one school district that isn’t unionized. Clovis Unified School District. It’s near Fresno. If you google it, there is some fascinating info there. And yes, they are doing very well. I am reminded of the 2010 documentary, “Waiting for Superman” |
I wasn't aware that money was being 'thrown at' public education anywhere. However you define that exactly. But it sounds, the way you describe it, like stopping 'throwing money' is part of the solution? i.e. spending even less on public schools? How much is spent anyway, compared with some other important things the US spends money on, like, say, invading/attacking other countries? Or keeping so many people locked up?