The nominal reason that governments run public schools is to give children the knowledge and skills they need to lead constructive, productive lives. But actions speak louder than words. A comprehensive state report issued last November showed a statewide 87.5% graduation rate — and that basic metrics revealed that barely half those graduates (51.7%) were actually adequately prepared to begin college or start a career. The goal of California’s education establishment is the appearance of student success, not actual student success.
Who benefits from this? The employee unions who have resisted reforms emphasizing accountability that have produced far better results in Massachusetts and Mississippi than those seen in the Golden State.
But what’s not fully appreciated is how this adult-employees-come-first mentality has permeated every aspect of K-12 education in our state. Which brings us to Measure M, which would allow the San Diego Unified School District to issue up to $3.5 billion in bonds “to fund construction and improvements of public education facilities in the district.” In interviews, including one with the U-T Editorial Board, advocates have depicted the measure as crucial to maintaining and fixing increasingly worn-down schools.
But using long-term borrowing to pay for basic repairs that will need to be done again in a few years is nuts. Families don’t take out mortgages to pay for used cars. This is why many states have laws that require that long-term borrowing by government agencies can only be used for capital improvements with a lengthy “period of probable usefulness.”
Yet as the state Legislative Analyst’s Office laid out in a 2015 report, the guardrails are gone in California schools. Districts routinely use 30- or 40-year bonds to pay for short-term needs — roof repairs, painting, HVAC maintenance, etc. — and to buy laptops or iPads that don’t last three years, much less 30. Why do they do so? Because of competing demands for general funds — starting with employee compensation.
And guess what? Circa 2010 — years before the LAO made this case — trustee John de Beck said this was a huge problem in San Diego Unified.
And here’s the twist: Even though the district has already borrowed $11.6 billion for “construction and improvements” at its facilities since 2008, even that’s apparently not enough. An April Voice of San Diego report found that promised major repairs at many schools never happened. In other words, it’s a bait and switch — a ploy to deceive voters that’s been going on for years.
San Diegans need to say enough is enough by voting no on Measure M.