Recently, the per capita spending on students data came out for 2005-2006 which has created a furor. Frankly, it makes me cringe when people attempt to simply what is a complex issue.Welcome to sound bite thinking! Maybe if we spent more on education we would be able to think more clearly and completely…Fiction. Low per capita spending on students (in California) is a result of Prop 13 and directly contributes to lower student performance.

Fact. There are multiple reasons for lower student performance. Per capita spending is only one, and the jury is still out on this as to its effect.

Fact. Property taxes have increased over the long haul because home prices have gone up.

People love that that their homes have appreciated. Had Prop 13 not been put in place, home values could not have increased at the same rate they have.

We can’t have it both ways. Either we pay higher taxes or we keep the median price of homes lower.

Fact. California’s budget has major problems that its politicians and people don’t have the political will to fix. For instance, many programs have built in formulas which automatically increase spending, but yet we are unwilling to raise taxes. When there is an economic downturn, i.e., recession (these do happen), it puts a strain on the State’s fiscal resources.

Something has to give (and it has - California is headed for $16 BILLION in debt this year).

Fiction. Teachers’ pay is too low (and intimate that it is the cause of low student performance).

Fact. Teachers’ generally complain (scream?) that their pay is too low AND that we don’t spend enough per student.

Why is that?

Let’s look at one of the hidden costs to education - teachers’ retirement benefits. Teachers are one of the few (if not the only) group which receive LIFETIME medical benefits. Tell me that this doesn’t take away from the $$$ that districts can spend on students.

Pay me today, or pay me tomorrow. You can’t have it both ways.

Fiction. Student test scores are low because teachers are not working hard enough.

Fact. Student test scores are low, but it isn’t about teachers working hard enough. Teachers are among the hardest working groups I know in America. The problem is the processes and structures which we have set up in which they must work.

We would like to think that if we want to improve something 5%, we work 5% harder - right? What if we want to improve something 50%? 100%? Work that much harder? It’s impossible - more sound bite thinking.

Fact. There are structural problems wrong in education that need to be addressed. Making people work harder (or throwing more money at it as in per capita spending) ISN’T GOING TO WORK.

Education is like an iceberg. With an iceberg - 13% is above the water whereas 87% is below. We have to fix what is below the surface, the structure and processes, before we will see any improvement on what is above the surface.

Bottom line, there are no free lunches, nor are there simple solutions. We must come up with real solutions which will work, and not everyone will get what they want. Welcome to the real world.

Einstein said that we cannot solve today’s problems with the same mentality which created them. We must set aside our special interests (such as teachers’ unions) to do what is best for our kids - get them educated.

Lest we forget, we are educating the generations which will be the leaders of our country and (hopefully) take care of us in our senior years. Scary thought that we are doing so poorly by them . . .

The Doctor is in . . .

D