Elect Clark Baker

The one good thing to come out of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance last week was meeting parents, teachers, and business leaders who want alternatives like vouchers and charters.

So wrote Clark Baker in a piece called “LAUSD: Confronting the Beast.” After writing five recent posts on the public school mess (“Education Reform Needed Now, Public Education’s Disgrace, Stupid in America: Blame the Liberals, Competition will Fix Public Education, and Fixing Higher Ed”) I thought I had a grip on the problem. Was I ever wrong; when it comes to LAUSD, my criticism touched only the tip of the iceberg.

Now a brave ex-Marine, ex-Policemen named Clark Baker has stepped to the plate to take on the “Beast.” From Clark’s campaign web site we learn that:

Born in Pacoima, I was troubled by gangs, drugs, and what I heard was a racist police department. I joined the LAPD in 1980 and found the department’s problem wasn’t bad cops, but politicians who required good cops to do bad things in good communities. No felon or gang member has hurt more families than the Democrats who control our city.

Gross mismanagement isn’t restricted to the LAPD. Although taxpayers spend $18,000 annually to educate one child, the unions, school boards, and thousands of useless managers shake down taxpayers, leaving our children with crumbling schools, weary teachers, gunfire, gangs, drugs, and a 50 percent drop-out rate. Our best and brightest cops and teachers quit after a few years in these asylums, while your politicians hide behind gate-guarded communities and send their children to private schools.

No organized crime syndicate could have been more successful at harming our neighbors and children than these union-supported politicians. It’s hard to imagine that honest hard working people will want more of the same.

Wanting to learn more I went to Clark’s blog, California Conservative, and found a white paper on the voucher issue. Like Milton Friedman and me, Clark believes that choice is the answer.

Free markets empower consumers that empower businesses. When service and products fail, the company suffers the burden to fix problems or go out of business. Politicians empower monopolies that empower politicians. When services and products fail, consumers suffer the burden to resolve problems that never end. And when consumers suffer, monopolies can extort higher fees, often in the form of increased taxes. Like protection rackets, unions strike to coerce taxpayers to pay more, often for less. Teacher unions spend millions to empower politicians who support unions, and attack those that threaten unions or the politicians they buy.

Clark then describes the problems of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The LAUSD monopoly controls 746,000 students, 80,000 employees, and a $13.4 billion annual budget, not including Federal Title One funds. This translates into more than $18,000/yr per child - nine students for each employee. Of this $18K/yr, only $8,200 is spent on children: And LAUSD’s $10 billion health and welfare deficit will soon cut student spending down to $6,100! These numbers will get much worse if Rob Reiner’s push for public pre-schools and Phil Angelides’ proposal to double the number of public school counselors are passed.

Our children need a better education, not bigger unions and bureaucracies. California’s education history proves that the more parents and taxpayers pay, the less that our teachers and students receive.

Since Palos Verdes is not in the 42nd assembly district I can’t vote for Clark. However, I can, and will, contribute to his campaign. If you care about LA’s kids and our regional economic future, you may wish to do the same.