I often get asked what can be done to improve our education system.  The more I talk to teachers, administrators, parents and school board members, the more areas it seems we need to look at.  I think that, like California's state budget, we need to look at where the money is spent, what isn't being paid for and why CA schools are ranked so low. 

First, we need to look at the inefficiencies in the system.  There are school districts - even in Silicon Valley - that have only ONE school in them.  In addition to the principal and administration of the school, there is also a superintendent & staff for that school district.  That just sounds ridiculous to me.  There have to be efficiencies in that case -  can we eliminate some taxpayer- funded administrative (superintendent) overhead and increase the staff of the school slightly to perform those functions?  Probably. 

Secondly, we have to look at the unfunded liabilities that are inherent in the Teachers pension system.  Governor Brown, in his May Budget Revise, began to allocate some funds to pay down the huge wall of debt in this system.  I think that there are still changes that can be made to ensure that today's teachers have pensions when they retire.  No government ever predicts a downturn in the economy, yet we know that every 10 years or less there will be one.  When those downturns happen, the investments that the pension funds are invested in decrease in value, which has led us to the huge debt that CA currently has.  We need to create a program that continues to provide the contracted benefits to our retired teachers and also ensure that the funds will be there for current teacher retirements.  Unfortunately, today's plan is unsustainable and I fear that the pensions that have been promised will not be there.  A great program would be a combination of a defined benefit plan (today's contracted pension) and a defined contribution (the 401(k) / 403(b) / IRA plan that we have in the private sector).  This will take some work, of that there is no doubt.  The defined contribution plan works very well in the private sector and if everyone looks to the greater good - better performing students because there are additional taxpayer funds available for educational programs and materials - this can be done.

The third, and maybe most important are to be looked at is competitiveness.  How can we make sure that schools are providing the best possible education?  I can attest that all of the teachers I know are doing the best they can and are at the top of their field when it comes to educating students effectively.  However, if they continually have to fret about having enough pencils, paper and other materials, is that distraction beneficial?  I think not.  There are a number of ways to increase competitiveness among schools and one of them is by introducing Charter Schools into areas with lower performing schools and student bodies may help provide that competitiveness that will help all schools improve.

What else do you think we need to do?