Chuck Weis on lawsuit challenging state funding
Posted on 6/29/10 • Categorized as Adequacy suit, Video, Video of the week
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Mr. Weis says that in Santa Clara county (where he is the superintendent) the range of spending among districts varies from $4,000 to $14,000 per student. A quick look on the web shows that Union Elementary school district has the lowest per student expenditure in Santa Clara county at TWICE what Mr. Weis claims: almost $8,000 per student. Mr. Weis also makes us feel for the unreasonableness California high expectations when he quotes California as perhaps the 5th among states in education funding in 1965, and moving down to among the lowest currently. What he “forgets” to mention is that our position among the states is less important than how much money we actually spend per student. Turns out that between 1970 and 2007 California DOUBLED the per-student expenditures from $4,670 to $9,283 in inflation-adjusted 2007-8 dollars. If we cannot trust his facts, why should we trust any of his arguments?
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My look at state data says that several districts in Santa Clara County, including Union got about $6,500 in state funding in ‘08-’09, though it may be less now because of last year’s budget cuts. You get $8,000 only if you include federal and local sources of money. A few basic aid districts do spend about $14 K per child. Chuck Weis is right about that.
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No, John. If you choose to look only at the STATE funding then basic aid districts get only $1000-$2000 per student, much less than most districts. Is that what you want to do? If you look at what basic aid districts SPEND per student as you do, fairness requires that you also look at what every other district spends per student independent of funding source. Limiting the poorer districts only to state funds is disingenuous. Weis is manipulating the numbers to make his case.
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