More ammunition for the charter school fight: This week is National School Choice Week. In conjunction, CPC released a new study finding that South Los Angeles charter schools have 37 percent more college-ready SAT-taking students than comparable union-run schools nearby. Specifically, 16.6% of SAT takers at these charter schools met or exceeded both the math and English components...
Register for this free online Zoom event HERE. 10 am to 12 pm, Saturday, Jan. 30. Learn about quality school options that are available for K-12 students in California: Local Public Schools Charter Schools Homeschooling Private Schools Alternative Schools Learning Pods Speakers include: Mari Barke (emcee), California Policy Center Andrew Campanella, National School Choice Week...
A new CPC analysis suggests that South LA charter schools have 37% more college-ready SAT-taking students than comparable district schools nearby. The analysis compares the California Department of Education’s SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmarks at charter and district high schools located in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods in South Los Angeles (Zip Codes: 90001, 90002, 90003,...
San Diego’s pension problems are a microcosm of the state: There’s a growing public pension storm in San Deigo. As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune this week, the city’s pension debt has been revised up from $3 billion to $3.3 billion, nearly triple the debt level of 2007. The pension board is demanding a $50 million increase in the city’s...
In less than a year, three Orange County cities will be in the utility business. Fullerton, Costa Mesa, and Irvine have created a joint powers authority to purchase and distribute electricity to households and businesses in those cities, under what’s known as “community choice aggregation.” It’s difficult to imagine how this model will result in...
The attack on free expression: Just as we warned last week, union-backed politicians in California and across the country are exploiting the Capitol riots to try to quash free speech. This week, former union leader, and current California Democratic Party chair, Rusty Hicks repeatedly called the (lower-case “d”) democratic effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom “a coup.”...
There are many flawed theories that underlie housing and homeless policies in Los Angeles. To name a few: “Housing first,” first endorsed by Obama’s Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, which prioritizes funds to provide shelter before using any government money for treatment or counseling. The concept of “wet shelters,” which admit homeless individuals regardless...
One of the biggest reasons California’s technology moguls supported the Biden/Harris candidacy had nothing to do with ideology. It had to do with their pocketbooks. Because with a Californian presiding over the Senate, and a Californian Speaker of the House, expect federal bailouts to flow west by the hundreds of billions. The likelihood of federal...
Carnage at the Capitol: Five people, including a San Diego woman and a Capitol Police officer, are dead after rioters seized the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a scene that looked from some developing world dictatorship. We strongly condemn any violence or rioting, in all its forms, whether committed by MAGA or Black Lives Matter supporters....
“This isn’t just an event, this is a movement.” That’s how Jack Frost, one of the organizers of the ReOpenCalNow conference, planned for this weekend, characterizes their effort. Presenters include a bipartisan group of politicians including Fiona Ma, California’s State Treasurer, a Democrat, and Congressman Tom McClintock, one of the most reliable conservative Republicans in America. Presenters...
Poor governance, beginning long before the bungled response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a recall campaign that may very well put California Governor Newsom into a fight for his political life in the Spring of 2021. If a suitable challenger emerges to replace Newsom, he could end up in well deserved political exile. But what’s happening in...
The Great Valley of California, variously referred to as the Central Valley, or, north of the Delta as the Sacramento Valley, and south of the Delta as the San Joaquin Valley, is one of the geographical wonders of the world. Nearly 450 miles in length and around 50 miles wide, it stretches from Redding in the...
A few years ago a provocative book by Rupert Darwall entitled “Green Tyranny” made the case that climate alarm is more about power and control, and less about the climate or the environment. Darwell’s reasoning, echoed today by a growing number of economists and environmentalists such as Bjorn Lomborg and Michael Shellenberger, concludes that environmental extremism, especially now...
When it comes to California’s political dysfunction, over and over, the story’s already been told. Failing schools, crumbling infrastructure. Highest taxes, highest unemployment, and highest cost-of-living. Hostile business climate. Crippling, punitive regulations and fees. Widest gap between rich and poor. Burning forests, lawless streets. Record numbers of homeless. Unaffordable housing. Water rationing, electricity blackouts. And...