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01-04-2005, 10:02 AM
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2632954,00.html
California schools 3rd-worst in nation
RAND study says spending, achievement have worsened since '70s.
By Kevin Butler
Staff writer
LONG BEACH — California public schools continue to fall behind most of their peers in academic achievement, teacher pay and school spending, according to a report released Monday.
The 258-page report by the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation says that the California school system has greatly worsened since the 1970s, citing factors such as poor school facilities and long-term underfunding.
"Californians were once proud of their state's public (kindergarten through 12th grade) education system," wrote the study's five authors, "but there have been signs in the last few decades that the system has slipped badly relative to its own past performance and that of other states' school systems."
Only Louisiana and Mississippi performed worse than California on a national assessment between 1990 and 2003, the report said. <!-- cdaFreeFormDetailByName.strSQL = FreeForm_GetTextBySectionIDPaperID @Name = 'ArticleAd', @PaperID = '204', @SectionID = '21474', @ArticleID = '2632954', @Filter = 'Section', @LiveFilter = '1', @DateTimeContext = '1/4/2005 9:38:19 AM' --><!-- ArticleAd not found -->
For the past decade, California's education spending has lagged behind the national average, the report said. The state's per-pupil spending went from about $400 above the national average in 1969 to more than $600 below 30 years later.
Spending on school facilities also has lagged for more than a decade, despite recent multibillion-dollar local and state school bond measures, according to the report.
In the Long Beach Unified School District, a $295 million local bond measure approved by voters in 1999 is funding the construction of four new schools, including the recently opened Cesar Chavez Elementary in downtown Long Beach.
Despite a 1996 state law providing increased money to reduce class sizes in grades K-3, California continues to have the second-highest student-teacher ratio in the nation about 20.9 students to every teacher, the report said.
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California schools 3rd-worst in nation
RAND study says spending, achievement have worsened since '70s.
By Kevin Butler
Staff writer
LONG BEACH — California public schools continue to fall behind most of their peers in academic achievement, teacher pay and school spending, according to a report released Monday.
The 258-page report by the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation says that the California school system has greatly worsened since the 1970s, citing factors such as poor school facilities and long-term underfunding.
"Californians were once proud of their state's public (kindergarten through 12th grade) education system," wrote the study's five authors, "but there have been signs in the last few decades that the system has slipped badly relative to its own past performance and that of other states' school systems."
Only Louisiana and Mississippi performed worse than California on a national assessment between 1990 and 2003, the report said. <!-- cdaFreeFormDetailByName.strSQL = FreeForm_GetTextBySectionIDPaperID @Name = 'ArticleAd', @PaperID = '204', @SectionID = '21474', @ArticleID = '2632954', @Filter = 'Section', @LiveFilter = '1', @DateTimeContext = '1/4/2005 9:38:19 AM' --><!-- ArticleAd not found -->
For the past decade, California's education spending has lagged behind the national average, the report said. The state's per-pupil spending went from about $400 above the national average in 1969 to more than $600 below 30 years later.
Spending on school facilities also has lagged for more than a decade, despite recent multibillion-dollar local and state school bond measures, according to the report.
In the Long Beach Unified School District, a $295 million local bond measure approved by voters in 1999 is funding the construction of four new schools, including the recently opened Cesar Chavez Elementary in downtown Long Beach.
Despite a 1996 state law providing increased money to reduce class sizes in grades K-3, California continues to have the second-highest student-teacher ratio in the nation about 20.9 students to every teacher, the report said.
CLICK ON ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST