Comments on: Local students, parents and school districts sue State of California for failing our schools http://yoursfpublicschools.org/2010/05/20/local-students-parents-and-school-districts-sue-state-of-california-for-failing-our-students/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=local-students-parents-and-school-districts-sue-state-of-california-for-failing-our-students Look What We Can Do Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:47:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Don Krause http://yoursfpublicschools.org/2010/05/20/local-students-parents-and-school-districts-sue-state-of-california-for-failing-our-students/comment-page-1/#comment-1934 Don Krause Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:45:33 +0000 http://yoursfpublicschools.org/?p=934#comment-1934 We already get less than half our Ed dollars into the classroom. Maybe we should try to solve that problem before asking for more. It is going to be very hard to prove that increasing spending will increase student achievement as Eric Hanushek at the Hoover Institute at Stanford pointed out in regard to the suit. We already get less than half our Ed dollars into the classroom. Maybe we should try to solve that problem before asking for more. It is going to be very hard to prove that increasing spending will increase student achievement as Eric Hanushek at the Hoover Institute at Stanford pointed out in regard to the suit.

]]> By: Don Krause http://yoursfpublicschools.org/2010/05/20/local-students-parents-and-school-districts-sue-state-of-california-for-failing-our-students/comment-page-1/#comment-1907 Don Krause Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:40:30 +0000 http://yoursfpublicschools.org/?p=934#comment-1907 This what Rachel Norton said in her blog - "It’s very important to note that this district is incurring no legal costs (other than the staff time required on the part of the General Counsel and the Superintendent) for being a party to the lawsuit." I have a hard time accepting that a district that cannot pay teachers to teach a full 180 day year, is willing to devote highly paid attorney and other staff time to participate in a lawsuit against the State, a suit that is just a PR stunt at best. The structural problems that are built into the CA Constitution and Prop 13 are the problem and they wil not be solved by a suit. Is it a district's role to spend education dollars on legal action to get more education dollars or is it a district's role to put that money to use in the classroom? I appreciate the sentiment to address the education funding dilemna, but our job is to spend what we have to best educate our kids, not to act as a PR agency, education lobby or public advocacy firm. There are organizations out there that should be taking up the charge WITHOUT SFUSD spending any more money that it can ill afford to take away from students. Sorry, but I do not agree with those who think it acceptible to burn through legal fees while students get underserved just because we already have these fees built into the budget. If lawyers at SFUSD have time to spend in this pursuit, maybe we could cut their hours and use the money for more teachers. This what Rachel Norton said in her blog - "It’s very important to note that this district is incurring no legal costs (other than the staff time required on the part of the General Counsel and the Superintendent) for being a party to the lawsuit."

I have a hard time accepting that a district that cannot pay teachers to teach a full 180 day year, is willing to devote highly paid attorney and other staff time to participate in a lawsuit against the State, a suit that is just a PR stunt at best. The structural problems that are built into the CA Constitution and Prop 13 are the problem and they wil not be solved by a suit.

Is it a district's role to spend education dollars on legal action to get more education dollars or is it a district's role to put that money to use in the classroom? I appreciate the sentiment to address the education funding dilemna, but our job is to spend what we have to best educate our kids, not to act as a PR agency, education lobby or public advocacy firm. There are organizations out there that should be taking up the charge WITHOUT SFUSD spending any more money that it can ill afford to take away from students.

Sorry, but I do not agree with those who think it acceptible to burn through legal fees while students get underserved just because we already have these fees built into the budget. If lawyers at SFUSD have time to spend in this pursuit, maybe we could cut their hours and use the money for more teachers.

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