I can assure you there are no computers in classrooms where these failing students are from. You want to improve scores? Pay for school lunches. Pay for stationery and other basic supplies. Pay teachers more.
It is ridiculous that costs of living and property values are skyrocketing across the state, but rather than more taxes going towards education there are budget cuts year after year.
(Seems that per student spending is up almost 50% over the past 5 years.)
ETA - Not to mention that (with the exception of 1 year in the past 50 years), K-12 education receives a larger portion of the CA general fund than it ever has (currently 42% of the state budget goes to K-12 education - and rising). As state tax revenues go up (as another poster suggests), K-12 education spending goes up at an even faster rate.
> According to Education Week’s annual state rankings on K-12 education spending, California was last in per-pupil when adjusted for regional cost differences in 2011. It moved up to 41st for 2013.
Sure. That was 2011, at the bottom of the recession - at which point CA's school funding was at the bottom of a dip. As the article also showed (& as you pointed out), its ranking improved dramatically in 2013. Since then, the per pupil spending has risen ~25%.
Regardless,
rather than more taxes going towards education there are budget cuts year after year.
...I just thought it important to point out that this statement is demonstrably false. Let's operate in the world of facts, not in the world of what "feels right." Only by doing that can we actually come to a solution that might work.
The wealthiest members of our society are on one hand sending their children to expensive private schools, specifically to avoid exposing them to computers in the classroom, while on the other hand lobbying for increased usage of computing in public education to support their businesses. This is a completely valid concern, and you are dismissing it without reason.
This is a completely insane assertion. Private schools have computers in the classroom more frequently to private schools. I challenge you to find any evidence of anyone choosing a private schools because there aren't computers in the classroom.
