Allan Favish is a Los Angeles-based attorney whose focus is on General Insurance Defense and Litigation Insurance Coverage/Reinsurance & Bad Faith Litigation. A UCLA graduate, he received his J.D. at Hastings College of Law in 1981.
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Recently, the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan research and consulting organization, reported that collectively, the states have a "$17.5 billion budget gap to fill before fiscal year 2003 ends, which for most states is June 30."
Read more on FrontPageMag.com
Published January 6, 2003.
The link at FrontPageMag has not been working. The Wayback Machine does not provide a copy of the article. Also, the State of California changed some of its links that I used in my original article. I have updated those links with links to pages archived at the Wayback Machine. Here is my article:
The fate of the
In February of 2002 my wife and I were expecting our first child. We needed to move to a larger home. I worked in
My research established that with rare exceptions, I could not send my child to the LAUSD if I cared about her education. Although I attended LAUSD schools from kindergarten through high school, because of what I found, I moved out of
I learned that the California Department of Education annually calculates an Academic Performance Index (
The first school I examined was the closest to where we lived. This was
At this point I was hoping that I could find an area with a better performing government school than this one.
But I read more about Tarzana. I noticed that the state gave a “similar schools rank” in the results. This allowed me to compare Tarzana with other
* Pupil mobility
* Pupil ethnicity
* Pupil socioeconomic status
* Percentage of teachers who are fully credentialed
* Percentage of teachers who hold emergency credentials
* Percentage of pupils who are English language learners
* Average class size per grade level
* Whether the schools operate multitrack year-round educational programs
Tarzana ranked 10 in this category. This means that when compared with
I continued reading the API Report for Tarzana. It provided the “Parent Education Level” that showed the highest education level attained by the parents. Only 3% of the student answer documents provided this information. For this small sample, 0% of the parents attended graduate school. Only 10% of the parents were college graduates. 30% of the parents had only some college. 40% of the parents were only high school graduates. 20% of the parents had not graduated high school.
The API Report for Tarzana also provided additional information. It stated that of the 318 students included in the report, 252 were socioeconomically disadvantaged, meaning students who meet either one of two criteria: Neither of the student’s parents has received a high school diploma or the student participates in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 78% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 40% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 17 and for grades 4-6 it was 30.
Looking in another area I looked at a home in the western part of the
Canoga provided a larger sample for evaluating its “Parent Education Level” than did Tarzana because 45% of the student answer documents provided this information. For this sample, 3% of the parents attended graduate school. 9% of the parents were only college graduates. 14% of the parents had only some college. 28% of the parents were only high school graduates. 46% of the parents had not graduated high school.
The API Report for
I continued my house-hunting at a development of new homes in the northwest
Noble provided a small sample for evaluating its “Parent Education Level”. Only 4% of the student answer documents provided this information. For this sample, 0% of the parents attended graduate school. Only 2% of the parents were college graduates. 20% of the parents had only some college. 28% of the parents were only high school graduates. 50% of the parents had not graduated high school.
The API Report for Noble also provided additional information. It stated that of the 957 students included in the report, 941 were socioeconomically disadvantaged. It also stated that 98% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 83% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 19 and for grades 4-6 it was 30.
I then looked at the API Report for Carpenter Avenue Elementary School, which is in the
Carpenter provided a larger sample for evaluating its “Parent Education Level” than did the other schools I examined. 84% of the student answer documents provided this information. For this sample, 10% of the parents attended graduate school. 70% of the parents were only college graduates. 8% of the parents had only some college. 11% of the parents were only high school graduates. 0% of the parents had not graduated high school. Thus the parents of the Carpenter students were much more formally educated than the parents at the other schools.
The API Report for Carpenter also provided additional information. It stated that of the 461 students included in the report, 84 were socioeconomically disadvantaged. It also stated that 17% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 13% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 18 and for grades 4-6 it was 31.
Unfortunately, I found that the homes that fed the Carpenter school were much more expensive than I could afford for what I wanted in my home.
I was curious about the students at the elementary school from which I graduated in
Shenandoah provided a very small sample for evaluating its “Parent Education Level”. Only 1% of the student answer documents provided this information. For this sample, 0% of the parents attended graduate school. 0% of the parents were college graduates. 67% of the parents had only some college. 33% of the parents were only high school graduates. 0% of the parents had not graduated high school.
The API Report for Shenandoah also provided additional information. It stated that of the at least 455 students included in the report (apparently there were more than 455, but they were not categorized in the racial/ethnic categories), 456 were socioeconomically disadvantaged. It also stated that 99% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 61% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 18 and for grades 4-6 it was 27.
Even if I could have afforded a house I otherwise found desirable in Shenandoah’s area, I would not want it.
I then looked at the government elementary school that was in the
I examined the API Report for Castle Heights Elementary School. The school’s statewide rank was 6 out of 10. When compared with similar
21% of the student answer documents provided information on
The API Report for
I then looked at the Summary of 2001 API Base Reports for Los Angeles Unified School District (elementary, middle and high schools). It displayed at a glance, the rankings of all of the schools in the district. The LAUSD had more than its share of elementary schools in the lowest rankings and far too few elementary schools in the higher rankings.
I looked at other schools districts within commute range of my job. I looked at the
The 2001 Academic Performance Index (API) Base List of Schools for the
Among the
99% of the student answer documents provided information on Rosedell’s “Parent Education Level”. For this sample, 11% of the parents attended graduate school. 32% of the parents were only college graduates. 36% of the parents had only some college. 19% of the parents were only high school graduates. 2% of the parents had not graduated high school.
The API Report for Rosedell also provided additional information. It stated that of the at least 478 students included in the report, 35 were socioeconomically disadvantaged. It also stated that 6% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 1% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 19 and for grades 4-6 it was 29.
Another
95% of the student answer documents provided information on
The API Report for North Park also provided additional information. It stated that of the at least 382 students included in the report, 16 were socioeconomically disadvantaged. It also stated that 5% of the students were participants in the free or reduced price lunch program. It also stated that 3% of the students were English language learners. Average class size for K-3 was 18 and for grades 4-6 it was 29.
As I lamented the death-bed condition of the school district from which I graduated high school in 1973, I noticed additional data that provides an explanation for the poor performance of the students in the LAUSD. Although I am opposed to government collecting racial and ethnic data and voted for the unsuccessful Proposition 54 in 2003 that would have prohibited the state from collecting such data, the collection of such data by the schools provides information that explains what has happened to the LAUSD.
The API Report for Tarzana Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 46% Hispanic/Latino, 32% White (not of Hispanic origin), 14% Black/African American, 5% Asian/Asian American, 1% Filipino/Filipino American. Tarzana had a statewide rank of 5.
The API Report for Canoga Park Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 89% Hispanic/Latino, 4% White (not of Hispanic origin), 3% Black/African American, 1% Asian/Asian American, 2% Filipino/Filipino American.
The API Report for Noble Avenue Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 92% Hispanic/Latino, 1% White (not of Hispanic origin), 2% Black/African American, 2% Asian/Asian American, 2% Filipino/Filipino American. Noble had a statewide rank of 1.
The API Report for Carpenter Avenue Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 14% Hispanic/Latino, 72% White (not of Hispanic origin), 5% Black/African American, 7% Asian/Asian American, 0% Filipino/Filipino American. Carpenter had a statewide rank of 10.
The API Report for Shenandoah Street Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 70% Hispanic/Latino, 2% White (not of Hispanic origin), 26% Black/African American, 0% Asian/Asian American, 1% Filipino/Filipino American. Shenandoah had a statewide rank of 1.
The API Report for Castle Heights Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 41% Hispanic/Latino, 27% White (not of Hispanic origin), 21% Black/African American, 7% Asian/Asian American, 3% Filipino/Filipino American.
The Ethnicity Report for the LAUSD for 2001-02 states that the district was 71.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% White (not of Hispanic origin), 12.4% African American, 4% Asian, 2% Filipino. (The link will default to the latest year, so select 2001-02.)
The Ethnicity Report for the Saugus Union Elementary School District for 2001-02 states that the district was 15.9% Hispanic or Latino, 74.9% White (not of Hispanic origin), 2.6% African American, 4.6% Asian, 1.5% Filipino.
The API Report for Saugus’ Rosedell Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 13% Hispanic/Latino, 80% White (not of Hispanic origin), 2% Black/African American, 3% Asian/Asian American, 1% Filipino/Filipino American. Rosedell had a statewide rank of 10.
The API Report for North Park Elementary School stated that the ethnic/racial characteristics of the students were 10% Hispanic/Latino, 77% White (not of Hispanic origin), 3% Black/African American, 5% Asian/Asian American, 3% Filipino/Filipino American.
Much of the data on
Those who spend our tax money and publicly support what has happened and what is happening, or remain silent about it, have much to answer for. The data does not reflect the results of a controlled and legal migration from
I don’t care about the race and ethnicity of my child’s classmates. I want my child to attend a school with children who are better academic performers than her so that she can learn from her peers. I want my child’s classmates to speak English so that her English skills will develop.
Therefore, I left the LAUSD. I hope my child can graduate from the