your topic and analysis are spot on. Not only do my kids get the same crap at our So. Orange County schools, but teachers actively push their union agenda to the kids. My son, a Sr in HS last year, had a teacher telling him he is underpaid, and to tell their parents to support the Calif Teachers Union. Can you believe that?

Problem starts with the fact we have a Federal Dept of Education. It should be abolished. States should not be in the business of educating our children. They are doing as good a job as the Fed Govt managing the economy. Give parents a tax credit/voucher and let us decide how to educate our kids.

then my kid can learn real business skills that will enable them to sell EDA tools instead of chocolates. Ok, maybe i went to far there….

I think sales skills are critical but K6 education is way too early to start–they have many other more important lessons to learn–especially with the social pressure/shaming that seems to be involved here.

As for the election, I’d suggest folks do your research and stop believing the platitudes and smokescreens before you start lauding Obama as the Second Coming. The man is the most liberal, nay, radical presidential candidate we’ve ever had, and he’s going to decimate this country.

If CA is spending more per child then it would appear that tax collection would not be the issue, but how those funds are allocated. Alternatively CA has unique challenges that require more spending or greater efficiency. Either way, if you have children being shamed into selling cookies for books there’s a problem.

My comment is intended to emphasize the fact that there is a direct correlation between what a government funds and what it holds as valuable.

Given that the education challenges are long standing and objectively recognized, something should be done about it…if it were deemed important relative to other programs that is.

Every day there is little a parent can do to change the situation, but every four years there certainly is.

JAMES: There is something wrong w/ the way that California’s schools spend the money they’re given - we spend more per child, and have some of the lowest test scores. I think it might in part be caused by a certain portion of the population within the state that doesn’t pay taxes, and are always in catch-up mode in school due to a language issue… with but seriously, are you going to blame this on Bush and the war??