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    Back to Zócalo's Connecting California

    Zócalo's Connecting California

    Going back to school on education spending

    Why not let California students be involved in decisions about spending education funds? They couldn’t do worse than the adults.

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    KCRW placeholderBy Joe Mathews • Mar 22, 2018 • 5m Listen

    Trying to make sense of California’s education spending formulas is not for the weak of heart. A myriad of rules and regulations exist to boost performance and close achievement gaps, but it’s nearly impossible to understand and Zocalo commentator Joe Mathews says it rarely works as intended. So why not turn over some of the decision making about school spending to students? It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Student participation is already being tried in a few cities, and with some success. And getting students involved could help achieve somethings that adults have failed to do: namely fixing the funding system and providing California schools with the money they need to thrive.

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      Joe Mathews

      Host, "Zocalo's Connecting California"

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