Open the schools, with "Tommy"

We're joined this week by a friend of the show, who we're going to call "Tommy", to discuss the continuing crisis in California's school funding. Tommy is a member of the California Teachers Association, working in our local unified school district, and has firsthand (and quite deep) insight into how Labor is dealing with the effects of the state's chronic school under-funding, while also expecting so much more from its staff.

As school districts face a crisis in truancy, the state apportions its funding to school districts based on attendance, even if they're on the hook for services regardless. Faced with a shrinking pool of state assistance, and more competitive grant environments, school districts throughout California have chosen to bolster their administrations at the expense of other staff, fostering top-heavy, expensive, inflexible management styles that siphon general fund dollars away from students and educators.

The ultimate result is bearing fruit all over the state, as labor actions erupt out of San Francisco, Natomas, and look to escape the bargaining room in LA and San Diego. Threats of state receivership in Contra Costa, and Sacramento can also be traced back to the same problems we're examining here with "Tommy" -- it's time for the State to finally put its money where its mouth is, and fully fund its education system, support the valuable labor educators provide, and ultimately reverse the unfortunate decline in education outcomes that come with underfunding.

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