No on Prop 2

by Stephen Frank

Los Angeles Schools Are Emptying Out

The issue is simple. Per the Los Angeles School Report, since 2019, California government schools have lost 420,000 students. By 2031, just seven years from now, they could lose another million. Crenshaw High School in LAUSD was once a football powerhouse, with over 2,000 students. Today, they cannot find 15 players for football, and enrollment is under 500.

There are also approximately 1.45 million students absent each day in California. That is about 30% of all students registered.

The question must be raised: why are they leaving or not showing up? Have their parents left the state? Are they enrolled in micro schools, charter schools, homeschooled, or in a private school? Why do nearly one and a half million students refuse to attend government school?

Are they bored?

Do they think they are wasting their time?

Or do they think the emphasis on sex and race is worthless?

Before we make our children and grandchildren pay off this new debt, we need answers. No more “build it and they will come” attitude. It appears the more we build, the more we “repair,” and the prettier the new equipment is, the fewer students want to participate.

Yet LAUSD, with dozens of elementary schools with under 300 enrollments put a $18-billion bond on the November ballot, ($9 billion to build new schools and $9 billion for Wall Street bond buyers).

The schools get fifty cents on the dollar.

But the California Legislature has put a $20-billion bond (Prop 2) on the November ballot. That means $10 billion goes to Wall Street bond buyers, $1.5 billion to the community colleges and $8.5 billion to k-12. And that is not the full cost to the taxpayer. The State bond will be paid through General Fund money. But the local districts that get the money will need “matching” funds to get that State money.

How do the local districts get the money? By passing bonds locally, to match the State funds.  That means upward of another $8.5 billion in bonds for schools and another $8.5 billion interest payments.  The only winner is Wall Street.

It gets worse.

Due to school district agreements and State mandates, almost all these projects must use union only workers.  Since just a little over 5% of California workers belong to private sector unions, that means 95% pay for the projects that only 5% are allowed to work. Oh, the added cost of a PLA (Project Labor Agreement) adds about 21% to the cost of a project. In other words, the bond gets 21% less for the money.

The unions win.

Wall Street wins.

Parents and students lose.

California Schools Must Return to Teaching Basics

Until the curriculum is fixed and standards are met, nice shiny classrooms and new equipment will mean nothing. Education is about learning, not new brick and mortar.  Our kids need quality education. Instead, they are taught about the need for equity – but that some are more equal than others, just as in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”

Add to this, the State of California has mandated that teachers lie to parents.  Teachers are allowed to take students to Planned Parenthood without telling their parents. Only when things go bad and the child needs hospitalization, do parents find out what the school did.

Now, we have teachers “transitioning” students with pronouns and claiming boys are girls and girls are boys. It is now against the law in California to have parents told of the mental and emotional issues of their child.

Would you vote for more money for a system that openly lies to parents?

Is this a system either educational or financially you want to invest more money into?

From Go Public Schools, we spend a lot of money in California: “The total per-pupil expenditure from all sources is projected to be $23,878 in 2024-25, up from $23,519, while per-pupil expenditure from Proposition 98 funds will be $17,502, slightly down from the January estimate of $17,653.”

That is almost $600,000 for a classroom of 25. Private schools and religious schools do a better job, for less, and students want to attend. It is not that we are not spending enough, it is that we are getting too little education for our buck. Now, the “reformers” want to shift the emphasis of education to career and vocational education. Maybe that is why so many refuse to attend, the current classes give them nothing. Starting next year, students will not be able to graduate from high school without a class in “Ethnic Studies.” The current proposed curriculum is so bad that Jewish organizations are protesting, and the State has had to hold up on the implementation. Instead of teaching we are one people, one nation; California government schools will be teaching race and ethnic differences and racism.

To Summarize the Reasons to Vote No on Prop. 2

1. Only about 40% actually goes to classrooms, new and old, equipment. No money to fix the failed curriculum.

2. Attendance is declining and absentee rates are 30%.

3. This is a special interest bond, with the winners being Wall Street, construction firms and unions. The losers are parents, children, and taxpayers.

4. Local districts must pass bonds to get matching funds from the State.

5. Why give money to a system that mandates teachers lie, by omission, to parents? How can you trust the teachers and Districts?

The answer is simple, until they bring back education to the schools, fix the failed curriculums, and inform parents about their children, no more money.

Vote NO on Prop. 2

Stephen Frank is a Board Member Tea Pary California Caucus and publisher of the California Political News and Views.

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