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Editorial:
STATE IN EPIC BUDGET BATTLE K-12 SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE NEAR-RECORD
FUNDING, BUT RESULTS ARE STILL DISMAL
By
Alan Bonsteel, M.D. and Peter Hanley June 25, 2002
Almost all of us would agree that in a budget crunch, the kids
should come first. But what's our real investment and return?
No budget numbers are less understood by the public than California
K-12 spending rates. The current per-student spending figures
coming out of the California Department of Education are deceptive
and misleading. The numbers quoted to the public are almost always
what are known as the "Proposition 98" figures, based upon the
extraordinarily narrow definition of per student spending in that
initiative. The Prop. 98 number leaves out the big-ticket items
of school construction, interest payments on school bonds, teacher
retirement, lottery money, and federal aid to education. This
year's Prop. 98 spending figure will be about $7058 per student,
a record number, and, in inflation-adjusted terms, second only
to last year's all-time record high California K-12 per student
spending.
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