Report on California Public School Efficiency and Funding Got Down to Facts, Now Politicians Must Get to Work

Sacramento – Key findings on California public school efficiency and funding adequacy were released to the public this week. Sensationalized leaks prior to the release of the report Getting Down to Facts suggested California public school woes would be solved by spending more than$1 trillion. “The report concluded no such thing,” said Vicki Murray, senior fellow in Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in California. “It found what research and common-sense have told us for a long time: spending more money on more of the same won’t reverse California’s race to the bottom.”

Dr. Murray explained that the much-quoted figure was part of a statistical analysis designed to test the strength of the relationship between spending and student performance. Even if spending exceeded $1 trillion, student performance still wouldn’t reach where it needs to be under the current, dysfunctional system.

“California’s education information infrastructure is so poor, it’s nearly impossible to know where education funding goes or what programs are effective. We shouldn’t spend more if we don’t know what’s working,” remarked Dr. Murray. “That’s why reform must be our first priority. Once we know, then we should spend accordingly.”

Getting Down to Facts recommended overhauling California’s education governance and finance systems. Shifting control over education finance and operations from Sacramento to schools so students can meet, or exceed, California’s top-rated education standards is an important step. “But the state should be a centralized repository of quality data that tracks how funding, programs, teachers, and schools affect student learning,” Dr. Murray said.

Political leaders promised to act on the report’s recommendations. “Will 2008 be the ‘Year of Education’ as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger calls it? Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said his caucus was willing to put just about everything on the table. The real gauge of politicians’ commitment to substantive education reform isn’t what’s on the table, but what’s kept off,” said Dr. Murray. “Then we’ll know if 2008 is really the education year or just another year of living dangerously for California students.”

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