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Editor:  

Michael Larrick hit the nail on the head today when he complained that “for all our billions of dollars, our education system is at the bottom of the heap.” But he’s wrong when he suggests that the $58.4 billion California spends on public schools is too much. On the contrary, it’s not nearly enough. 

In “The State of the States,” a report published in the Jan. 10 issue of Education Week, a national journal for educators, California gets an “F” for school funding this year. We spend just $5,845 per pupil, compared to the national average of $6,408. New Jersey spends the most, at $9,986. We’re 48th in the nation for school spending! 

The article also reports on a federal survey of student achievement for the most recent school year. Guess what: the top-spending states have double the number of students scoring at or above grade level in reading, writing, math, and science, compared to California. When I was educated in California public schools, in those wiser days before Proposition 13, California school spending was among the highest in the country, and so was our achievement. I submit there's a correlation here. 

Trina Ostrander, Associate Director  

Berkeley Public Education 

Foundation