by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
February, 2000

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that there is a lot of waste in education spending.

In Sacramento, politicians on both sides of the aisle are clamoring to increase funding for education. However, last month a poll showed that while Caifornians believe that the public schools are getting worse, they oppose raising taxes for more education spending. The public's reluctance to pour more money into the government-run school system is understandable considering recent examples of government mismanagement of education tax dollars.

For instance, in Los Angeles, the city's school board just decided not to complete construction of the proposed Belmont High School, despite having poured more than $200 million into the project. The high school sat atop an old oil field that was replete with serious evironmental problems. The scandalous waste of tax money on the disastrous Belmont High project is a key reason for the public's lack of support for Proposition 26, which would make it easier to raise property taxes to build more schools.

At the state level, a recent report by the State Auditor found massive flaws in the California Department of Education's oversight of education spending. According to the report, the Department lacks an overall system to track the performance of school districts and non-profit groups that receive state and federal education funds. Because of this glaring deficiency, the Department fails to monitor adequately whether public funds are being spent properly. Further, even when the Department does review the way in which education funds are being spent, it does so sporadically and imposes few sanctions on those who squander the taxpayer's money.

Such negligence, of course, has real-life consequences. Many recipients of public education funds have spent those funds illegally. The U.S. Justice Department is currently investigating the state Department of Education for both criminal and civil violations.

All of this demonstrates that there is little real accountability for the way education tax dollars are being spent in California. The result is waste, irresponsibility and corruption. Until that changes, voters are right to be wary of throwing more money at the problems of public education.

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.