What a Concept: Local Control of Schools
California Insider reports that State Senate President Don Perata wants to return control of schools to communities:
We don’t tell cops how to police, firefighters how to fight fires or doctors how to save lives. Why should teachers be any different?...
Schools must have more local control and flexibility. We don’t have all the answers here.
What a concept!
Califrnia schools used to be under local control until the California Supreme Court under Rose Bird issued the
Serrano decision (5 Cal 3rd 584) which asserted that uneven funding between rich and poor communities was unconstitutional and ordered the state to equalize funding among school districts. This quickly translated to state control over all education policy and funding. It hasn't worked out so well, unless one makes one's living working for the state school bureaucracy.
Now the Democrat leader of the state senate wnats to go back to local control, although there's that nasty Serrano decision in the way. A humble suggestion: return control to counties, which collect the property taxes anyway, and let the county governments deal with what equalization is needed. This may not return control back to the local school boards, but it does allow a much greater degree of local control than at present, solving much of the problem of Sacramento's central planning.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at February 16, 2005 03:35 PM
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