California Funding of Public Schools

To continue the discussion of the Robles-Wong v California, there are interesting “beyond California” perspectives in the Washington Post and NY Times. While this is a big splash it will quickly go to a quiet, court-laden process. The more interesting question will be how any or all the candidates for State office will respond to the issue: either IN the campaign OR once elected to office. This is about the future of education and funding in California – not quick answers!!
An interesting book that is due for publication any day is Smart Money by Jacob Adams. He and his colleagues from a policy perspective ask, “How do you use resources to realize ambitious goals?” Within that question they believe there are four components:

1. How much money will it take? – the adequacy question
2. Are the resources equitable?
1. In state
2. Across states – which has never been looked at before
3. Are the resources used productively?
1. Within the using of resources
1. We typically and exclusively have measured compliance within budget categories rather than effectiveness
2. But the real question is have we used the resources effectively (On a policy basis, we don’t have much information as NO one has really ever researched this from that perspective)
4. Do we account for the resources within the ambitious goals that have been established (did it make a difference?)?

It might be an interesting read for Legislators