Post #3-Increasing Spending

California has made very little progress when it comes to per-pupil spending in recent years. When comparing California to the rest of the United States, California has dropped to 49th place currently.  The per-pupil spending for K-12^th grade is about $9,375 according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, which is below the $10,615 national average.  This begins to raise the question of whether more per-pupil spending is really effective.  Currently, Governor Brown believes so and has worked to pass a bill through the California legislature that would increase the amount of spending per student by $2,700 for the 2016 school year.  The issues of increasing per-pupil spending is that it doesn’t proportion funding to necessary stages of education.  Much of our school funding is not needed and continually pouring more money into areas of education that don’t increase the benefits negates the purpose of the spending increase.  Furthermore if we do provide funding for more students then students in low income education districts should receive a majority of the increase.  The funding should not be spent haphazardly and instead be monitored and provided to schools that will create programs and incentivize teachers that make the school a more attractive education center of learning.  If we take the average money spent per pupil yearly, most students get more money spent on them then the the lower private school students who achieve higher test scores and are often times more successful academically.  So, if we look at it this way, it presents the option that the amount of money spent on per student can be put to better use through a something such as a voucher program.  If we gave 10,000 of financing to students to use at any private education institution then most students would be able to attend a better form of education.  There are many routes to solving spending issues, but considerate measures must be taken to ensure the money spent is placed in programs that truly provide for the academic well being of the student.

Works Cited:

Fenterswald, Johnathan. "California Drops to 49th in School Spending in Annual Ed Week Report." EdSource. ED Source, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.