I like Dan Wientraub's writing. Here is this morning's article in it's entirety...

It's not how much money, but how it is used on schools
By Daniel Weintraub
September 28, 2005

When a couple of dozen students from the leadership class at Sutter Middle School near downtown Sacramento gathered in the library the other day for a glimpse at a grown-up press conference, they probably had no idea they were going to see a modern demonstration of one of the oldest tactics in political propaganda: the big lie.

The occasion was the endorsement of Treasurer Phil Angelides, who is running for governor, by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. The two Democrats used the moment to bash Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his policies.

"He said he wouldn't cut education," Angelides told the students, "but he did."

The treasurer's statement was the latest attempt by Democratic leaders and their allies in the teachers unions to persuade voters that the budget proposed by Schwarzenegger earlier this year and approved by the Legislature reduced funding for the schools. The governor's opponents think that if they repeat this lie often enough, people will believe it. So far, they have been right.

The truth, however, is that while Schwarzenegger did not give the schools as much as he once promised he would, his budget this year increased funding for education, and not by just a little. It provided $3 billion more for kindergarten through community colleges, including a $2.5 billion increase for K-12 alone. That was a 5 percent boost from the year before.

Since 2000, the numbers are even more dramatic. State and local funding for the schools has grown by nearly $10 billion in this decade, despite an almost constant budget crunch in Sacramento. Per-student funding has grown from $6,266 in 2000 to $7,402 today, an increase of 18 percent.

The growth in education spending during those years has been worth about $34,000 for every class of 30 students.

So while it is true California schools get less than the national average, and less than they would like, they have not been cut in recent years and certainly not starved, as some suggest.

The increase this year is all the more remarkable because it came at a time when the state was facing -- and still faces -- a $6 billion gap between projected spending and tax revenues. The budget for the schools was almost exactly what was recommended by the state's nonpartisan and widely respected legislative analyst, Elizabeth Hill, and was supported by almost every Democrat in the Legislature, including Nunez.

Projections suggest that school budgets will continue to at least keep pace with enrollment and inflation in the coming years, and probably do better. The real question will be not how much money should the state's taxpayers spend on the schools, but how should that money be spent?

In that regard, Sutter Middle School is a strange place for Democrats to choose as an icon for their education policy because its success contradicts their message that money is the pre-eminent issue. The school represents just the opposite, a testament to the idea that money is not the crucial factor in producing high achievement.

Once nearly shut down by the local district due to dwindling enrollment, Sutter now holds an admissions lottery because it gets so many applications from students throughout the city. The difference between then and now is not a big budget, but a big-hearted principal, Greg Purcell.

Purcell's attention to detail includes learning every child's name, personally walking the hallways during every class break and policing any litter that falls on the ground. He sets high standards that start with the assumption that every child can learn, and he backs up his staff when they report discipline problems in their classrooms.

Purcell also makes it a practice to hire only teachers who commit to going the extra mile for their kids.

I saw Purcell during the treasurer's press conference and asked him how the school's budget fared this year. He said his campus suffered no cuts and benefited from the cost-of-living adjustment that all California schools received.

"We're surviving," he said.

Now that's an honest answer.

-- Daniel Weintraub writers for the Sacramento Bee.