Saratoga News

Letters

Voters need to get all the facts

As election time nears, we are being inundated with news regarding an underfunded educational system. Since most of this is based, in my opinion, on inaccurate information, it requires the educational equivalent of the O.J. Simpson Syndrome to counter the claims.

The Simpson Syndrome means that because Simpson is a celebrated sports figure, he is incapable of murder, and the guilty ones are those who created a negative image of him. The educational equivalent is that because the educational system is massive and important to everyone's life, it is incapable of mismanagement and of a lack of integrity.

There are many honest professionals in the educational system deserving of recognition. Ten of my 36 years as an administrator at a local aerospace company were spent coordinating the company's program for employee advanced degrees at Stanford and the employees' educational requirements at community colleges. I cannot accept the "underfunded education" theory, but am horrified that 30 years ago, a family of medium income could send two children to college without financial sacrifice.

Consider the news item about three weeks ago when a student protest occurred outside a state correctional facility. The students were complaining about deteriorating schools compared with the well-maintained prison. Apparently, our educational system neglected to inform these students of the state budget facts: Only 8.5 percent of the state's $66.6 billion for the 1997- 98 year was allocated for "youth and adult correctional agency." But 54.5 percent was allocated for our educational system.

The media's halo effect for education results in a lack of association between its cost and instances of its mismanagement.

Perhaps the most emphasized item is that California ranks 41st in the country for per-pupil spending. This can cause one to pause when considering California's 1997-98 budget exceeded $66.6 billion and the total budgets of 39 other states were less than $10 billion.

The structure of public education has remained unchanged since the horse-and-buggy days, while its funding requirements have advanced to that of purchasing a major airline. There is no correlation between the quality of education and the amount of money it's allocated. So get the facts before buying into the Simpson Syndrome, and read your voter information guide before voting June 2.

Elaine Hocker
Saratoga

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