re: Voting No On New Parcel Tax

There's been much discussion on this measure. One side argues it's the right thing to do for the community and the children. The other argues the tax is unfairly applied between residential and commercial properties. My reason for voting No is very simple, and very different.

The money will be wasted.

From the California web-site, here is a summary of the AUSD Star proficiency ratings for 2010.
English-Language Arts: 67.2%
History: 54.5%
Mathematics: 58.1%
Science CST: 65.5%
Science End-Of-Course: 52.5%

I grew up going to California public schools back when they were the best in the Nation, and our Nation had the best schools world-wide. How far we've fallen... At that time, grading on a curve was novel, and many parents were against it. For those of you from more modern eras here's how grading used to be done:
90 - 100: A
80 - 89: B
70 - 79: C
60 - 69: D
< 60: F

Looking at the Star rankings for AUSD, the best score achieved was possibly a D+. Everything else was a dismal failure. The best the district can do is get a D+ for teaching our students their own native language! Science is also a D. And supposedly, these test scores are an IMPROVEMENT on scores from previous years.

As a small-business person, who is a consultant for more than 30 years, I can tell you that our school system is NOT spending their funds very efficiently. I don't why they're being so inefficient. I can simply tell you that the evidence proves they are being inefficient.

If you give them more money, they will continue to be inefficient and your money will be wasted.

Perhaps we should privatize our city's school system. Let the city contract out the running of each school to a private firm. I can assure you, if a private contractor (or a private school for that matter) turned in results as poor as these, it would be out of business the same year it started. Or reformulate to ALL charter schools. They seem to perform marginally better.

I don't know what a good answer is, because my child doesn't go to school in Alameda. His mother and I value his education too much.

I do know that if you and I give them more money, it will be wasted. Their results show they don't know how to use it efficiently. Since they seem to think they can just guilt us into giving them more, they aren't being forced to learn how to be more efficient. They're like your lay-about in-law that can't quite hold a job, and always needs just a little more money to get on his or her feet. It's different this time... I've learned my lesson this time... I'll do much better this time...

They need some tough love. We need to save our money ...