According to Dan Walters of The Sacramento Bee, California tolerates a K-12 school system that’s failing to properly educate millions of poor minority students. Under Jerry Brown’s governance, per-pupil spending has increased 50 percent up to $11,000 for the first time with his new budget this year. Most of this increased money has been allocated for school districts that have a large number of “high-needs” students. There have been various independent studies by prestigious organizations that indicate that much of the extra money is being diverted away from the targeted students that it is meant for. Another issue is that lawmakers are unwilling to closely monitor how the extra money is spent and they just assume that local school officials will do the right thing.
GreatSchools, a non-profit that provides school information and parenting resources, released a report that concludes that California schools are highly segregated when it comes to academic outcomes and conditions inside the schools, such as access to rigorous courses and experienced teachers. GreatSchools president Matthew Nelson states,
We have long known about gaps in outcomes, but this report shows extreme gaps in opportunity, which calls into question our fundamental commitment to equity and fairness.
According to the report, educational opportunities are only accessible to two percent of African-Americans and six percent of Hispanic students, compared to 59 percent of white and 73 percent of Asian students. It is important to have equal opportunities for all students so that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed in life.
