Monday, March 8, 2010

California Ranks #48 in Public Education Thanks to Proposition 13

It's interesting to note the primary cause of the dramatic deterioration of California's public education system began when I was back in high school. Within 7 days of my graduation in 1978, Proposition 13 was passed. Back then we had music, sports and performing arts programs along with all kinds of other extra curricular school activities. I remember our music director expressing great fear over the proposition for his job. Over 30 years later, as predicted by many, the proposition steadily caused California to become a failed public education state:
California public schools, which in the 1960s had been ranked nationally as among the best, have fallen to 48th in many surveys of student achievement. Some have disputed Proposition 13's direct role in the move to state financing of public schools, because schools financed mostly by property taxes were declared unconstitutional in Serrano vs. Priest, and Proposition 13 was then passed partially as a result of that case. California's spending per pupil was the same as the national average until about 1985, when it began dropping, which led to another referendum, that requires a certain percentage of the state's budget to be directed towards education. Wikipedia
This state's a mess all thanks to politicians. There are also far too many attorneys in this state contributing to the mess. California used to be a nice place to live. Not anymore.

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