My solution to Californias Budget crisis.

[omegapoint]

Don't know about Calf. but my library system seems to have become a steady source of income for the likes of Madonna and Jamie Lee Curtis and who knows who else. If you can't get your film, book or music to sell on the general market taxpayers will foot that bill too. Try this; on your local libraries search site use 2009 as a filter then check out how much garbage they consume.
I realize subjectivity might suggest censorship but that argument is just an attempt to keep the revenue stream alive for authors who can't sell their creations anywhere else. I hate to deprive young minds of the rerelease of Ernest Goes to Camp but hey I"m just evil.

 

[QQQBALL]

Quote from Misthos:

Ever wonder why no recent president - neither Republican or Democrat ever really addresses the illegal citizen issue?

1. Food Costs - migrant workers are very cheap - though I would agree that the cost in healtcare, police, etc.. ultimatley shifts the cost to society in other ways.

2. Natonal Security - remittances to Mexico by migrant and other illegal workers are what is holding up that corrupt country. Without the flow of those dollars south of the border, we would have the equivalent of Iraq on our southern border. Illegal workers in the US ultimately pay those Mexican bonds. Remember the peso crisis? There has also been a flood of illegals ever since. See the connection?

3. Political reasons - the Latin American vote.

As for Education - I think it's a bloated scam. Either kids want to learn, or they don't - and only the parents can force that. Sure there is a baseline on what a school will cost - but it means nothing without parent involvement. Other countries spend less, but you know what? Those kids spend hours more a night at home reading those same friggin math and science books.

highr birth rate = more people paying into SS in the future?

 

[Eight]

If California gets a debt downgrade it means higher interest payments for the inevitable loans they will need... bankrupt now or later is the real choice with Big Left in charge...

The schools are not about education much at all here, they are about the unions, same goes for the prison system, the welfare office, the dmv, all of it is about Big Left and unions.. I just pay my taxes and work on trading and try to ignore the tepid, stagnant condition of the state and it's people...

 

[Landis82]

Quote from QQQBALL:

I think tuition is near $10k per year in UC & like $6k to$8k+ at the CSU... the CCs & JCs are much less.

The entry requirements at the UCs are not based solely upon grades, & SAT or ACT scores, but you are correct regarding D students. At UCLA, UCSD & UC Berkley, sometimes the "A" students don't get in - UCLA's admission guidelines are a little unique.... I would not be surprised if the acceptance level at these three schools is well under 10%.

Correct.

http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Registration/feesched.html

However, the admission percentage is a bit higher than you claim. 55,676 applied for freshman admission into UCLA for this coming Fall. 21.7% were accepted. Cal's admission percentage was virtually the same.

I wonder how many people on this thread who have been "bitching and moaning" about money spent on EDUCATION here in California are actually residents of the State, let alone have graduated from a 4-year University.

My guess . . . not many.

Just another typical thread on ET where the loudest whiners are ones where the subject matter doesn't even apply to them.

California's single BIGGEST problem is the fact that it has the 3rd oldest Constitution in the world ( behind India and Alabama ) and one that requires a 2/3'rds "super-majority".

That's why there are so many Propositions on the ballot every year; the legislature is never able to get anything done due to the "super-majority" rule, and the fact that Schwarzenegger has showed no leadership whatsoever, and failed to forge strong relationships with leadership in the State Legislature after all these years.

But leave it to the resident ET trolls who don't even live in the State to have no clue about the 2/3'rds "super-majority".

 

[QQQBALL]

Thanks Landis - that sounds about right at 10,000 admissions for 50,000 applicants. Someone had tols me that UCSD had admitted like 4,000 or 48,000 applicants, but that was incottect as the website shows like 17,000 or 48,000 applicants. BTW, your $27,000 estimate is about correct for the "all in" annual cost at a UC per my experience ---- check writing

I remember reading somewhere that last year, SDSU had admitted 9,000+ of over 55,000 applicants and that was before the deadline.

this is from the UCSD website.

...said the current applicants were extremely well qualified academically, with this year’s group of admitted students attaining a mean high school grade point average (GPA) of 4.08 and average SAT reasoning score of 637, 677 and 650 respectively for Critical Reading, Math and Writing.

Of the 17,582 admitted freshmen, 7,007 were identified as Eligible in the Local Context (ELC), meaning that these are UC eligible students who were identified as the top four percent of their high school graduating class. The average GPA of these ELC students is 4.19 and on average their SAT Reasoning scores were 632, 667 and 642 respectively for Critical Reading, Math and Writing.

More than 1,500 or 8.7 percent of the newly admitted freshmen are from San Diego and Imperial Counties. The largest percentage of the admitted freshmen, at 44.3 percent, come from Los Angeles and Orange counties, followed by the San Francisco and the Bay Area at 24.2 percent.

 

[Humpy]

Quote from Landis82:


California's single BIGGEST problem is the fact that it has the 3rd oldest Constitution in the world ( behind India and Alabama ) and one that requires a 2/3'rds "super-majority".

That's why there are so many Propositions on the ballot every year; the legislature is never able to get anything done due to the "super-majority" rule, and the fact that Schwarzenegger has showed no leadership whatsoever, and failed to forge strong relationships with leadership in the State Legislature after all these years.

But leave it to the resident ET trolls who don't even live in the State to have no clue about the 2/3'rds "super-majority". [/B]

Maybe it's time for an upgrade on this 3rd oldest constitution. No doubt written in haste and now regretted at leisure ?

Many outsiders look in on Cali, not because you are despised generally for being morally and now financially bankrupt but because we care. Insiders generally confuse caring friends on the outside for enemies and hasten their own demise. Sometimes things seem clearer from a distance and a neutral stance.

 

[Stosh]

Quote from Humpy:

Maybe it's time for an upgrade on this 3rd oldest constitution. No doubt written in haste and now regretted at leisure ?

Many outsiders look in on Cali, not because you are despised generally for being morally and now financially bankrupt but because we care. Insiders generally confuse caring friends on the outside for enemies and hasten their own demise. Sometimes things seem clearer from a distance and a neutral stance.

Well said. And, in addition, the more light that is shone on this unnecessary self induced disaster, the better the chance (although slim) that the rest of the country might wise up and get off the same downward path. Stosh

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from Humpy:

Maybe it's time for an upgrade on this 3rd oldest constitution. No doubt written in haste and now regretted at leisure ?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

What we need is to revert law and policy BACK to the original objectives.

 

[BSAM]

Actually, some really good points have been made here. The grades should be cut to K-11th. What we have, currently, is a giant daycare/financial ripoff.

If you read this thread and can't figure out that education in CA/USA is a ripoff/scam, then I don't know what else to tell you.

 

[lolatency]

Quote from peilthetraveler:

Cut the real problem. Education. They spend 39 billion per year on higher education of which 13 billion comes from the state. Why? Dont students pay ridiculous amounts of money to go to college? Or is it all the free rides they give to the A students with scholarships? If those students are so smart they can figure a way to pay for college themselves. I mean if the D students can find a way, surely the A students can too.

And Cut k-12 too. 61 billion per year (40 billion from state funds) is way too much. I mean 40% of the budget is going to education? I dont even spend 40% of my budget on my housing! No more than 10% MAX of the budget should go to education. If parents want smarter kids, they can fork out the money to pay for it themselves. All kids need to know is Reading, writing, and math. Everything else should be considered luxury education and paid for out of pocket by parents or taught at home. But no...schools are basically glorified day cares teaching stuff that 90% of will never be used and that 90% of worthless stuff being taught will be forgot by the time they finish High school anyway. (dont believe me? Just watch the show are you smarter than a 5th grader)


There...30 seconds and i just saved CA 50 billion dollars (and probably a few 100 billion for the federal.) Make me Governor now.

I'd vote for you.