Saturday, May 28, 2005

A Modest Proposal for Saving Our Schools

Senator Tom McClintock of California puts things into perspective in a May 15, 2005 column:

The multi-million dollar campaign paid by starving teachers’ unions has finally placed our sadly neglected schools at the center of the budget debate.

Across California, children are bringing home notes warning of dire consequences if Gov. Schwarzenegger’s scorched earth budget is approved – a budget that slashes Proposition 98 public school spending from $42.2 billion this year all the way down to $44.7 billion next year. That should be proof enough that our math programs are suffering.

As a public school parent, I have given this crisis a great deal of thought and have a modest suggestion to help weather these dark days.

Maybe – as a temporary measure only – we should spend our school dollars on our schools. I realize that this is a radical departure from current practice, but desperate times require desperate measures...
He's got quite a plan. By substituting luxury commercial office space for classrooms, hiring associate professors from the college level, and providing annual memberships at a private health club for each student, etc., he can still come in under budget. Use the title link to read the whole thing.

Hat tip: Terri Leo.

1 comment:

Bookworm said...

As long as schools are in thrall to the teachers' unions, nothing will save them. As the product of public schools, it was fortunate that I was an autodidact in the humanities, so that I came away with some knowledge. Helpless as I was in math and science, I learned nothing at the hands of the bureaucrats.