rodveleda's blog

California is broke. Period. And its bankruptcy is caused by two problems: stubborn, intractable politicians and resource curse. First things first. California is the Left Paradise, a place where every nutty leftist policy available has been put in place. Second, California suffers from resource curse. America's most populous state, nice climate, huge areas for agriculture, world-class universities and so on made California one of the richest places on Earth. When you mix California leftism  with its own resources, you've just created an entitlement state. Everyone in California has a claim against the government, no wonder California has been running on deficit for years just to pay a very bloated government.

If California wants to avoid the fate of becoming a failed state, there are some things that may help avert that:

Education

• Kill off the California Department of Education, State Board of Education, letting counties run K-12 education as they see more adequate to their realities and challenges.
• Create a statewide voucher program that can be used in both public and private schools. The key idea is fund the student, not a heavy, union-controlled education bureaucracy.
• Voucherization of education should also include universities and community colleges. California's public higher education institutions should be totally free to charge whatever they want, cutting off any financial ties with state's treasury. In order to prevent people from choosing majors like "Impacts of Global Warming of Feminist Struggle Against Capitalism", at least half of university voucher must be paid back to the state.
• Free public schools from burdensome regulations, especially those concerning hiring and firing of personnel.

Feel free to suggest any other idea to save CA's education.