State funding for schools is like a slice of pie

…you never know how much of you’re gonna get.

For those of you that don’t keep an eye either on Alamedans or on Rob Siltanen’s blog School 94501/94502 you are missing out on a great post by Rob S. delievered this weekend.   This addresses some of the commentary that has been cropping up in op-eds and letters to the editors in both our newspapers that has argued against the Parcel Tax.   That, of course, being that we should be putting our efforts into lobbying at the state level for our fair share rather than wasting our time trying to pass a parcel tax and further penalizing Alameda residents.    Rob S. tells us that it is necessary to do both and that there are folks out there that have been working hard to figure out an appropriate strategy to secure equalized funding for Alameda schools.   Highlights, but reading the entire post is highly recommended, particularly for those who have limited understanding on how school financing works:

As more and more Alamedans are now coming to understand, California’s school finance system is broken. But based on the complaints of Measure H opponents, I am concerned that not as many Alamedans also understand that many of us already have been working hard for years to fix that broken system and will continue to do so (probably also for years), regardless of what happens with the Measure H vote on June 3.

…We can and must both play “defense” locally with the parcel tax as well as continue to play “offense” in Sacramento. If we vote down Measure H and gamble everything on a reckless Sacramento-only strategy, we risk destroying public education as we know it in Alameda. It really is too valuable to throw away.

…If one looks at the past few decades of California school finance policy, the best analogy may be the movement of tectonic plates: Change comes slowly in tiny increments (e.g., a few equalization dollars here or there), though every once in awhile there is an earthquake (e.g., Serrano v. Priest, Proposition 13, Proposition 98, the recession of 2008). I do think the time is right for a earthquake of positive reform of this broken system in the coming years, but there are too far many variables in play for anyone to be able to predict with confidence whether that will happen in two, four or eight years…

Thorough and positively enlightening post.  Should be required reading for everyone along with the Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men.  

On another school related topic, I have to say that I am thoroughly tired of folks speaking out for a substantial group of Alamedans without even having spoken to a subtantial majority of that group.   The first is the now second in a series of articles on Alameda Daily News which claim to “represent” West End parents and saying that AEF/KASE/Illuminati of Alameda is not looking out for the interests of West End schools and kids.   Evidently speaking to a “bunch” of parents and then being told that their sentiments were “widespread” was clearly enough to then say definitively that the there might be some “bias” to use Don Roberts’s headline against West End schools.   I’m not sure why Franklin school is being used as the most recent whipping boy in furthering the East vs West End divide, considering Franklin is sort of mid Island than anything else.   I assume Franklin is being used as the key “what is wrong with Alameda schools” because some of the most vocal supporters of the tax, the Mooneys, live in the Franklin school district.   If the representative for all that is West End Alameda did slightly more research he would probably have learned that the Mooneys sent some of their kids to West End schools like Chipman and Encinal.    Rob S. of School 94501/94502 is also a West End parent.  Simply because these folks have not gone running up to the letter writer to bonk him over the head with their opinions on AEF/KASE or the subject of equity in Alameda schools in general doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, just that their efforts are better placed being proactive rather than complaining about the perceived status quo.  

The second in the “please don’t speak for me” rant is the recent guest editorial on Michele Ellson’s The Island by Tom Pavletic, who signed off his anti-Parcel tax side as: “Board Member, 400+ Unit Alameda Homeowners Association” as a member of that 400+ Unit Alameda Homeowners Association he damned well didn’t speak for me and a number of other families that I have spoken to about the Parcel Tax and have prominent signs in the lawns announcing their support for the efforts of AEF.   Thankfully Michele E. has placed a disclaimer after his sign off letting future readers know that Tom P. only speaks for himself.