education whining
Mar. 7th, 2010 01:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyI have neither sympathy nor support for the protesters who choose to flagrantly break the law in the latest round of education protests.
It's a really simple matter to stay on the sidewalk, hold up signs and banners, chant and otherwise call attention to your cause.
When you start blocking roadways and freeways, damaging State and private property, interfering with the Constitutional rights of others, and last but not least, shutting down the very educational facilities you claim to be supporting . . . you lose my respect and the public's trust.
Let's shed some light on this budget mess, shall we?
Here is the Web site for the California Department of Finance: http://www.dof.ca.gov/
The state's income of approximately $89 billion (General Fund monies only) came mostly from personal income tax of $49 billion. Sales tax accounted for another $27 billion. Corporation taxes accounted for just under $9 billion. Miscellaneous taxes (motor vehicle, insurance, liquor and tobacco) totaled $4 billion.
How did this get spent?
In the 2009-2010 budget, the state of California spent over $84 billion dollars. Of this, $35 billion was spent on mandatory K-12 lockins courtesy of Proposition 98. The remainder, approximately $50 billion, is technically available for reallocation.
We spent $25 billion on health and human services, i.e. MediCal, CalWorks, public and mental health. We spent just over $10 billion on higher education (all systems), $8 billion on corrections (i.e. prisons), $2.5 billion on "business, transportation and housing" (CalTrans, Highway Patrol), and just under $2 billion each on "resources" (Dept of Water Resources, CalFire, State Parks, etc.) and on state legislative, judicial and executive operations (state Capitol, tax agencies and DoJ, courts etc.)
Let's also track the state FTE ("full time employees") in order of employees to put this all in perspective. The categories listed above have about 311,000 FTE.
Higher Education 132,384
Corrections 64,754
Business, Transportation & Housing 43,838
Health & Human Services 33,222
Legislative, Judicial, Executive Operations 17,868
Resources 17,399
K-12 Education 2,885 (state administration, does not include teachers)
So we've established that the major state departments employ about 311,000 people.
How many K-12 teachers do we have at the local level . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .
nearly 307,000
That's right, folks, we have just about as many K-12 teachers as the other state agencies listed have FTEs when all put together.
We are paying a LOT for K-12 education and for higher education in this state, that's $45 of those $85 billion.
What are we getting for our money?
I get applicants with high school diplomas who cannot read a job application, let alone fill one out.
The problem is not educational funding. The problem is educational bureaucracy and retaining "qualified" teachers in the profession. I put this in quotes because the credentialing system is itself a huge part of the problem.
It's a really simple matter to stay on the sidewalk, hold up signs and banners, chant and otherwise call attention to your cause.
When you start blocking roadways and freeways, damaging State and private property, interfering with the Constitutional rights of others, and last but not least, shutting down the very educational facilities you claim to be supporting . . . you lose my respect and the public's trust.
Let's shed some light on this budget mess, shall we?
Here is the Web site for the California Department of Finance: http://www.dof.ca.gov/
The state's income of approximately $89 billion (General Fund monies only) came mostly from personal income tax of $49 billion. Sales tax accounted for another $27 billion. Corporation taxes accounted for just under $9 billion. Miscellaneous taxes (motor vehicle, insurance, liquor and tobacco) totaled $4 billion.
How did this get spent?
In the 2009-2010 budget, the state of California spent over $84 billion dollars. Of this, $35 billion was spent on mandatory K-12 lockins courtesy of Proposition 98. The remainder, approximately $50 billion, is technically available for reallocation.
We spent $25 billion on health and human services, i.e. MediCal, CalWorks, public and mental health. We spent just over $10 billion on higher education (all systems), $8 billion on corrections (i.e. prisons), $2.5 billion on "business, transportation and housing" (CalTrans, Highway Patrol), and just under $2 billion each on "resources" (Dept of Water Resources, CalFire, State Parks, etc.) and on state legislative, judicial and executive operations (state Capitol, tax agencies and DoJ, courts etc.)
Let's also track the state FTE ("full time employees") in order of employees to put this all in perspective. The categories listed above have about 311,000 FTE.
Higher Education 132,384
Corrections 64,754
Business, Transportation & Housing 43,838
Health & Human Services 33,222
Legislative, Judicial, Executive Operations 17,868
Resources 17,399
K-12 Education 2,885 (state administration, does not include teachers)
So we've established that the major state departments employ about 311,000 people.
How many K-12 teachers do we have at the local level . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .
nearly 307,000
That's right, folks, we have just about as many K-12 teachers as the other state agencies listed have FTEs when all put together.
We are paying a LOT for K-12 education and for higher education in this state, that's $45 of those $85 billion.
What are we getting for our money?
I get applicants with high school diplomas who cannot read a job application, let alone fill one out.
The problem is not educational funding. The problem is educational bureaucracy and retaining "qualified" teachers in the profession. I put this in quotes because the credentialing system is itself a huge part of the problem.
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Date: 2010-03-08 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-03-08 11:54 am (UTC)