Never underestimate the power of angry mothers!

These are tough times. Schools have to be prepared to take some hits too.

Isn't true though, forgetting for a moment about what Proposition 98 calls for, that the actual cuts being proposed by the governor for schools amounts to less than 2 percent of the current year budget? That does not seem that horrific to me. Hell, you can probably cut a couple of administrative positions (Asst. Superintendent-types) from each school district and achieve that, without touching teachers or the classrooms.

Actually, no, Mongo. If the Ventura Unified School District cut out every single administrative position they have they wouldn't have the $4 million they need to cut from their budget as proposed.

If you are looking at what they were actually entitled to, the figure is closer to $7 million.

I can appreciate Mongo's comments; however, regardless of what that percentage is, its effects are considerable to an already lean budget. And when you compound that with previous cuts, spending restrictions, and all the hoops one has to jump for funding, the picture is even bleaker. While I don't mind doing our share and "taking some hits", its a downright disgrace that we, California, the 8th largest economy in the world, and the richest state in union, are at the bottom of per pupil spending. Even Mongo should wince at the fact that we spend more money on prisoners than we do on our kids! You have to admit there is something wrong with this picture. It's time for this type of bullying to stop! Whats left to cut? We have 2 counselors for 17 elementarys, 1 resource officer for 5 high schools, and I'm not even sure if we have any librarians. And why should we forget prop 98?! By the way, Ventura could fire every administrator, including all principals, assistant principals, and the superintendent, and we still wouldn't reach the mark. I invite everyone to stand up for education on April 18 in the Buena Quad at 4pm.

You are right on Adela!! Not to mention eliminating ALL Music, Art and Career Technical Education Programs statewide with room to cut even more! WE would have to cut over $24,000.00 per classroom thats $7.76 million per school district. with these cuts we will easily become the lowest on the totem pole for spending per student . That is simply ludicrous, especially for the richest state in the nation!. What are we thinking? These are our future leaders. Our current leaders will need replacing at some point in time. It scares me to think of the partially educated community members attempting to lead our city, State and Nation! And what about the bus drivers, janitors, food service workers etc.. that would have to be laid off. How will our children get to school. Do you have children Mongo? If you care about anything other than just disagreeing with everything? Please come to the rally and hear it for yourself!!!

Mongo has said his kids are all in private school. I have had experiences with both private and public schools and it gives me a unique perspective. Kids in private schools have parents who can afford to pay. The exception would be those who are on significant financial aid from the school. If the schools need something, they just raise tuition.

But the parents are still asked to give lots and lots of extra money, usually to pay for scholarships for the kids who are on financial aid.

Some private schools, like Thacher in Ojai, are exceptional, but they are for the very privileged. We have some private high schools locally whose SAT scores are not any better than those of schools like Foothill High, an exceptional public high school.

But I believe every child should go to an exceptional school.

Marie is correct. My children all went to private schools. We were fortunate enough to be able to afford private schools and I certainly empathize with those who cannot. I agree that the needs are always met because the parents pay high tuitions and the schools have mandatory fund-raising obligations and "volunteer" parent hours that are also requirements.

What is it though that Foothill High School is doing so right? They certainly don't get a larger slice of the pie than the other local high schools, do they? Perhaps there are some approaches and techniques that Foothill is using that other schools could benefit from. Just a thought...

My two boys attend Foothill. I am very familiar with their parent organization as well. They are a group of very hard working, caring parents that put their money where their mouths are, much like a private school. The exception is it is not mandatory. We all volunteer our time and efforts. Motivation also plays a major role in the students' success. These kids actually want to excel. The student body is unique in the sense that they all have a feeling of belonging. There are no outcasts or gang action to interfere with their goals. Foothill expects a lot and has a more rigorous curriculum than the other high schools. If the kids can't cut it they transfer out. The ones that stay are the ones that want to work hard and make their principal and teachers proud. But they are not exempt from the cuts. Teachers and programs will be lost unless the hardworking parents find a way to replace them. I hope they don't have to, they do enough. Foothill has an extremely unique environment . I only wish the other schools could duplicate it, however complex it may be.

Foothill High and Mound Elementary in Ventura are very, very successful public schools. (Look up their API scores!) Mound is a math magnet school. Foothill is a technology-oriented school. Both have lotteries for admission and both have long waiting lists. They attract a certain demographic and both have very high standards.

The bar is just a bit higher. One of my children attended Mound and when she was there I think the ELL population was something like .03 percent. That might have been one child.

Ventura Unified is a pioneer in alternative education. We have El Camino High School, too, which is a partnership with Ventura College. Open Classroom is also amazing and Homestead School serves the home-school population.

But all these very successful programs will see cuts under the governor's proposed budget. We do so many things right. I just don't want to see us go backward.

In all of this discussion about increasing taxes to support school budgets, I think it's important that we keep the interests of the already overburdened taxpayer in mind.

Peter Foy, chairman of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, in a speech he made yesterday to the Ventura County Taxpayers Association said it best in this statement, "It's critical that we have people in government who believe it's your money and think hard about how they spend it." State spending has increased by 32% between 2003 and 2008; however State revenues have failed to keep pace with this spending.

Foy also pointed out that we're giving more money to educate fewer children. The FY 2008-09 K-12 budget increases spending by $7.6 billion from 5 years ago even though many school districts have experienced a decline in enrollment over this same period.

You're quoting from a Star article reporting on a speech a conservative Republican gave to the Taxpayer's Association? The speech that made me incredibly overjoyed that Steve Bennett is representing me and not Peter Foy?

He's telling us to be happy that we're getting more than in 2003, the year I helped form Save Our Schools because Ventura Unified was looking at a $6 million hit to the budget? The year the state budget deficit was estimated to be well over $30 billion?

Let's see.. that was the year we lost our School Resource Officers, the AVID program, the peer counselors, the reading specialists, librarians, etc. etc. etc.

Now we're only looking at a cut of $4 million. Oh lucky us.

But let's keep that tax loophole for multi-millionaire yacht owners, shall we? Stick it to the kids instead.

Tax loopholes cost the state an estimated $50 billion a year in lost revenue, three times as large as the deficit and half as large as the budget itself. Granted some are worthwhile, but there are plenty of special-interest tax breaks that are of questionable worth when you weigh the revenue they could bring to education.

Independent Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill's budget proposal calls for closing these loopholes. She's a wise woman. Somebody should listen to her.

Peter Foy said some school districts had declining enrollment. That leads me to think some had increasing enrollment. But I don't know the total enrollment numbers from the past few decades to actually shed some insight on the numbers.

Schools need to get real about the budget situation the same as every other sector of government has, including cities, counties, park districts, etc. The bottom line is the pain will have to be shared at every level of government. There are no sacred cows. This is a problem that has been exacerbated by the Legislature's spending sprees over the last few decades. The time has come to pay the piper.

Instead of blaming Pete Foy for the problems, you should be blaming the likes of Hannah Beth Jackson, Fran Pavley, and Pedro Nava. These are just some of the liberal Democrats that control (or have in the past) the way the vote goes in Sacramento on budget and spending issues.

I agree with some, but not all, of Elizabeth Hill's proposals to balance the budget. I don't agree with her tax increase proposals and some of the loopholes she's proposing to close will not yield the amount of revenue that she maintains they will. I know for a fact that the yacht loophole will save less than $18 million (a paltry sum in the grand scheme of things). Closing some of the other so-called business tax loopholes may actually have unintended negative consequences on the State economy, which is suffering enough. The last thing you want to do in a weakened economy is raise taxes. Any economist will tell you that.

I don't blame Peter Foy for anything other than having a really bad attitude about education funding. He only recently entered public office after a nasty battle with Democrat Jim Dantona. You left off part of his speech; he also wants to end all welfare. He made an inflammatory speech aimed at a taxpayers' group. Try giving that one to a group of parents and teachers!

When Hannah-Beth Jackson was in office state taxes went down. Just thought I'd mention that. She and Pedro Nava have been true champions of public education. They both have my vote!

Now, about those loopholes. Let's get real. Ending the yacht owners loophole (or "sloophole" as some have called it) would save $21 million. But the Republicans are unwilling to budge on this so it has become a symbol. However, there are other special interest loopholes that would save more:

The leases of master recording tapes by musicians or others who control recording rights are tax-free, thanks to a special law passed decades ago at the behest of the recording industry that costs the state $65 million a year.

Here's another: tax-free treatment of custom computer software programs typically purchased by business. While ordinary consumers must pay sales taxes on their off-the-shelf software purchases, the custom programs to manage payroll or inventory are exempt simply because long-time Democratic legislator John Vasconcellos carried exemption legislation a couple of decades ago at the behest of Silicon Valley software firms.

There are a lot of these special interest loopholes.

(My thanks to Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee for this information)

Mongo, are you challenging the wisdom of the long-time legislative analyst? You think you know better? Under her plan, yes, schools would have to take some hits. I concede that this may happen.

Brian, about half are seeing declining enrollment, according to figures I have.

What generally happens to school districts with declining enrollment is that their facilities, teaching and other costs remain fixed since it is usually only a few children per grade. But they receive less from the state per student because of the declining enrollment. The enrollment declines don't come in neat little packages of 30 students per grade. So you couldn't lay off one teacher to offset.

So while they have to maintain the status quo, they are losing money per pupil which comes out of costs which aren't fixed such as librarians, technology specialists, and counselors.

While declining enrollment helps ease the burden to expand facilities and add portable classrooms, that money can and should go to facilities upgrades. So many of our schools in this state are in bad shape.

When districts try to close schools because of declining enrollment, parents go ballistic. (Witness the uproar in the Conejo)

Marie, I neglected to mention Foy's comments on welfare because they weren't relevant to the issue at hand: education. But, since you brought them up, I think he was right on the money about how government has functioned as an enabler to those dependent on the welfare system.

Some are talking about going down that same road in terms of bailing out people who got into sub-prime loans by signing documents that they failed to read thoroughly, as most people do when they are making a life-changing decision like signing on for a home mortgage. Many of these folks should not have been getting into these loans in the first place because they were in way over their heads and couldn't afford it. And now they expect taxpayers to bail them out? No thanks!

That would be like me signing the loan papers for a $300,000 Ferrari and then expecting the taxpayers to bail me out when I realized I couldn't afford the monthly payments.

I agree with you on the bailouts. But Bear Sterns was likely necessary. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is a student of the Depression and it may have headed off a catastrophe.

The City of Ventura has part of their reserves in Bear Sterns. They are safe, but essentially frozen.

You're kidding me, right? Ventura has reserves in Bear Stearns? Does Neal Andrews know about this, or is Cole and the six amigos continuing to keep him in the dark and feed him mushrooms?

Straight off the City Manager's blog and part of a recent email blast on the city's finances:

"The City of Ventura holds $10 million in what last week were AAA-rated Bear Stearns investment notes. While we do not expect to suffer any financial losses, those investments are now essentially frozen – and cannot be sold until the market turmoil abates. ..."

So I think everybody but you knows, Mongo.

This is off topic for this thread. I have a new thread on Ventura city issues.

So, Marie, they actually filled in Andrews about this, huh? Pretty amazing stuff. He must be whistling Dixie right about now.

They usually like to keep him uninformed and then he's left to fight for his life at the Council meetings trying to make a principled stand on various issues while the 6 amigos and Councilman Cole sit up there and snicker beneath their Patagonia attire.

All completely untrue, as you well know Mongo. Again, off topic for the schools thread. Take it to the tourism thread, which deals with Ventura city issues.

Ahh, but it is true, Marie, my dear. Denying it doesn't make it not true. They shut this guy down at every given opportunity. No wonder he's decided not to run for reelection next year. I think he's getting sick of the scoundrels.

Take it to the Ventura city thread, please. And you are completely irresponsible in your comments as Neal was on here himself and denied your previous speculation about his not running in 2009.

But as an anonymous blogger you think you can do things like that without personal consequences. The only problem is you may not be as anonymous as you think you are.

Enough with the "Mother Knows Best" admonishments, Marie. Is this a blog where you can speak your mind freely without fear of being scolded, or worse yet, revealed, or is it Romper Room?

BTW, I have no problem with you taking your best shot at my identity and posting it all over the blog. After all, it would be just another guess, wouldn't it?

I don't reveal identities of bloggers here, Mongo. You're free to rant all you want as long as you follow basic blog rules, which are the same as the Star's rules for its story comments.

I am just reminding you that you posted that comment once before and then Neal got on here and refuted it. You never know what will happen and who is reading. It's very public here.

I realize that blogs are very public venues, but Neal has no idea who I am, nor do you, for that matter. So, what's your point?

I think her point, Mongrel, is you posted something false and defamatory. How do you know she doesn't know who you are?

Stay out this, Skippy! I got your number, buddy. You're one of those whiny Pierpont residents who thinks the City should spend millions of dollars to ensure your ocean front views. Well, suck it up, dude! Nobody was holding a gun to your head when you bought property next to a beach (where, yes, surprise, sand is known to accumulate over time).

Mom! Mongo is off topic again! I call for banishment.

What a wimp...

What? Mother Superior hasn't kicked you off yet?

No, unlike you, Skip, she actually believes in freedom of speech and expression. Care to keep this little battle going, or are you ready to cry "uncle"?

Heh, Internet squabbling................get a life.

Hey, Deception, stay out of it and get a life yourself!!!

Nice way to stay on topic. Banned?

Huh? You throw a rock at me and don't expect one back in your direction? Dream on, Deceiver...