Brown’s Budget Shuffle: Something From Nothing is Still Nothing
"Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice"—Gov. Jerry Brown, California (quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle)
Gov. Brown is correct—funding poor schools the same as affluent schools is not only unjust, it is pedagogically irrational. Poor children have greater educational needs, while their parents have far less to donate to school fundraisers. Funding them equally only guarantees unequal outcomes. Yet his solution—reallocating revenues from wealthier schools to poorer school—is neither just nor rational.
None of California’s schools currently receives adequate funding. The state has slashed over