Redondo Beach
Unified –like many school districts in the state – is facing major budgetary
constraints due to revenue shortfalls from Sacramento. Instead of floating bond
measures, City school districts should initiate cost-cutting reforms which will
cost nothing.
Replace distant school
boards with local board of trustees for every school, following the charter
model. Instead of politicians jockeying for positions to implement abstract
proposals, empowered local parents, teachers, and community leaders can
implement curriculum and instruction in the best interests of the student. They
can invest the time and energy in designing policy and evaluating its
effectiveness more efficiently.
staff in public education is still too top heavy. School districts with one
high school and one or two middle schools do not need three assistant
superintendents. The ancillary bureaucrats who answer to upper-level staff
should be eliminated, dedicating more money to the classroom.
reform must be implemented. School districts disburse the majority of their
depleting funds to off-setting the increasing obligations to retired staff.
Teachers have the right to organize, but unions must embrace reform or lose key
elements of their collective bargaining rights. Merit pay for exception
teaching, along with liberal rewriting of teacher contracts to permit districts
to evaluate teachers more frequently and dismiss unqualified teachers more
quickly would save money without tax increases.
Above all, a voucher
system would ensure that districts compete for funds and spend taxpayer dollars
effectively. Parents should not settle for low-performing schools simply
because they are forced to by law.