by Hector Camacho, (courtesy of San Mateo Daily Journal)
A recent report from the California School Boards Association indicates that California schools are underfunded by approximately $42 billion every year. Filling that gap would bring our state to a position of adequate funding for public schools.
Just how comfortable are we with adequate? More importantly, is adequacy the goal for which we should strive to meet the educational needs of students in California? Adequacy was one of the buzz words of the CSBA Annual Education Conference in San Diego, which gathered school board members and superintendents from across the state to network and engage in heavy conversations on closing the achievement gap, facilities needs and local control. And try as we might as school board members to address these critical issues, gross underfunding of the public education system continues to force us to make hard choices in our districts. Now more than ever, any action a board takes comes at a cost well beyond dollars. If anything, the lessons learned from last week were a sobering reminder of how far we still have to go.
California schools are underfunded by approximately $42 billion every year.
But those woes were not enough to overshadow the tremendous good happening in public schools. California has always been a place of innovation and this continues to be the case for our schools as well. The conference provided a forum for schools throughout the state to share some of these student-centered practices. View Lessons Learned to read more about these successes at school districts statewide.
Hector Camacho is a teacher and counselor and serves as a trustee on the San Mateo County Board of Education.
