I thought that the LA Daily News did a pretty good job with this article about a 20% rise in administrative positions from 2001 to 2007 while enrollment had declined.

But a Daily News review of salaries and staffing shows LAUSD's bureaucracy ballooned by nearly 20 percent from 2001 to 2007. Over the same period, 500 teaching positions were cut and enrollment dropped by 6 percent.

The district has approximately 4,000 administrators, managers and other nonschool-based employees - not including clerks and office workers - whose average annual salary is about $95,000. About 2,400 administrators are among the 3,478 LAUSD employees who earn more than $100,000 annually.

Meanwhile, the average salary for an LAUSD teacher is $63,000. And the average household income in Los Angeles County is less than $73,000.

I don't think that slashing the District Office is always the answer to a school district's fiscal woes. There is a point where you can have too few administrators and things start to fall through the cracks. As in most things, to be successful, you need to achieve a balance. They key is that you have the right positions with the right people in those positions. It is about quality rather than quantity.

With that in mind, when enrollment is declining 6% and you're cutting 500 teaching jobs, it doesn't seem like that's the right time to start adding hundreds of administrators with average salaries of $95,000. Particularly in a bureaucracy the size of LAUSD, which had no shortage of administrators at the start. Even their own administration admits there is a problem:

And 3,200 more administrators and support staff are scattered throughout the city, as top officials acknowledge that the number of highly paid managers has swollen beyond what is needed to run the nation's second-largest school district.

"There are assistants to assistants," says Senior Deputy Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who was hired in May to oversee the district's day-to-day operations.

...

The deputy superintendent said he has discovered instances in which incompetent top managers at Beaudry were moved into paper-pushing jobs at the same salary, while others were hired to do their jobs - effectively doubling the district's costs.

And here's the sure sign that many administrators in LAUSD are out of touch with reality:

Cortines said he also discovered that many employees downtown with extensive educational expertise believed they were required to stay in their offices rather than spend part of their time training teachers in schools. Included are about two dozen math, literacy and science experts, making $85,000 to $109,000. They have been ordered into schools, along with other instructional employees who have offices downtown.

But Cortines said he is disappointed that the district's headquarters has become such an entrenched fortress.

"Someone said to me, 'You don't know how many years I worked to get downtown.' And I said, Let me tell you, that's not where the work is.

"The work is in the schools and in the classroom."

My family loves the movie The Princess Bride. I'm not as big a fan as the rest of them, but I'll admit that I really enjoy some of the movie's funny moments. As a result, when I saw this t-shirt, I had to laugh.

In her effort to maintain her reputation as an over-achiever, my sister had not one but three McCain gaffes to cancel out my Biden gaffe. Here are her favorites:

• McCain forgets that Spain is in Europe, not Latin America
• McCain thinks Iraq and Pakistan share a border
• McCain falsely accused (Shia) Iran of training (Sunni) al Qaeda

The only one I've heard about is the Spain in Latin America one. I do feel compelled to post this link which suggests that the reporter who asked the original question didn't think McCain was confused... only ducking the question.

I've tried to avoid commenting on any of the gaffes made by our various Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates because frankly, for the most part they're just a simple mistakes. But this one today was just too good to let pass by without comment. I'm sure my sister or one of my liberal friends will probably have a rebuttal gaffe from McCain or Palin and that's fine. I'll be glad to post one of them too. I can't help it. This one just cracked me up.

In an interview with CBS News, Democratic VP Candidate Joe Biden said:

When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.'

Of course television wasn't introduced to the public until 1939 and FDR wasn't President in 1929 when the stock market crashed. That would be Herbert Hoover. FDR came in three years later.

What made it even funnier was the response from Biden's spokesman:

I’m proud to say that we Democrats aren’t experts at Herbert Hoover depression economics like John McCain and his pals. From Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, we just get elected to clean up the economic mess these Republicans leave behind.

Ummmm... you may not be an expert on the economics of the depression, but shouldn't you at least know that they didn't have television and who the President was at the time? I thought the response wasn't much better than the gaffe.

Hopefully, Friday we'll hear some actual discussion of the issues.

Well, it looks like we might finally get a state budget for this fiscal year. The bad news is that apparently the budget they've crafted in the dark doesn't actually address any of the underlying fiscal problems, but instead uses yet more "smoke and mirrors" to delay facing our problems for another year.

I thought this San Francisco Chronicle editorial did a good job describing the problem.

It's hard to come up with a more contrived and bogus state budget than the deal concocted this past weekend by leaders of the Legislature. It reaches new heights in trick accounting, banks on a fairy-tale financial future and caves in to a subset of hidebound politicos.

This fraud of a spending plan will harm California, maybe not this month or next, but surely by next year when another gap between revenue and expense wells up. This year's package does nothing to prepare California's badly flawed budget process for the next go-round.

The budget-makers should be ashamed to present these numbers. Its designers say it avoids past financial gimmicks and grabs, such as raids on gas-tax funds and money owed to counties. But look what it does instead: It speeds up tax collections (thus taking money away from next year's budget) and counts on leasing the state lottery for a quick cash infusion. That comes on top of $9 billion in spending cuts.

This is nothing close to what is needed: sensible, broad-based reform of the state's feast-or-famine tax collection system. Nearly half of the state's revenue comes from personal income taxes, which is prone to wide swings with the ups and downs of the economy - and thus the take has dropped sharply this year. The state is also encumbered by Prop. 13 limits on property taxes and a string of voter-approved spending mandates. All of this combines to straitjacket the budget process.

In place of a genuine debate over overhauling this system, California gets 11th-hour deal-making. This year, nearly 80 days late, the state is handed a $110 billion spending plan announced on Sunday and approved by legislators the next day.

In my mind, this is just further proof that our state government is completely out of touch with reality. Instead of doing what is best for the state, their concerns rest on increasing their own power and satisfying their special interest masters. Let's kick them all out. It is time to just start over in Sacramento.

This video from the Dallas Independent School District's start of school convocation is incredible. A student speaks to over 20,000 educators about high expectations for all students. This is a video that every policymaker, parent and educator should see.

Yesterday I learned from this Desert Sun story that the California public school Superintendent with the most unfortunate name, Foch "Tut" Pensis, has announced his retirement. "Tut", along with his wife, has worked for the Coachella Valley Unified School District for 30 years. He's been the Superintendent for the last eight years.

During his time as superintendent, the school district struggled to meet federal benchmarks in standardized tests that measure whether students are proficient in, or have mastered, grade-level materials in subjects such as English and math.

Schools that fail to meet federal expectations face sanctions that include curriculum or staff reorganization and state takeover.

Pensis had offered his resignation earlier this year to stave off the appointment of a state trustee.

Statewide, Coachella Valley Unified is one of 97 districts assigned a District Assistance Intervention Team, or DAIT, and the only to be assigned a trustee.

Pensis said his decision to retire was, in part, because of a “broken” accountability system marred by high-stakes testing.

“It's hard beating your head against the wall,” said Pensis, 57.

“When you use data to compare schools without looking at the population of the school, it's unfair to those it's supposed to help. We have some third world conditions in our school district.”

Coachella Valley Unified has faced stiffer corrective action because it accepted a voluntary $1.9 million grant in 2005 with harsher penalties if students failed to improve.

Gee, where to begin. Coachella Valley is one of 97 districts in the state that have failed to meet targets for getting kids to to grade level for more than 5 years. Check out these charts from Just for the Kids - California.

Language Arts:

Mathematics:

"Tut" contends that these test scores simply ignore the "third-world conditions" at his schools. What did he do with that extra $1.9M he got for promising to raise student achievement if he wasn't eliminating those third-world conditions?

He contends that when you look at test scores without looking at the student population, it is unfair to those that you're trying to help. I might agree with "Tut" if every other similar district had the same poor test scores. That simply isn't the case. For example, let's look at Alum Rock Unified in San Jose. This district has basically the same level of English Learners and students in poverty. Both districts are predominantly Hispanic. Yet, Alum Rock Unified is improving. It isn't improving fast enough, they have a long way to go, but it is improving. If Alum Rock Unified can do it, why can't Coachella Valley Unified?

Language Arts

Mathematics

Further, let's look at Martin Van Buren Elementary in Desert Sands Unified, which is less than 10 miles from "Tut"'s district. Here is a school with a similar demographic make up and yet this school is showing some real improvement.

Language Arts:

Mathematics:

Why wasn't "Tut" learning from this school? Here is a school with the same student population, that is getting a dramatically higher percentage to grade-level. Instead of trying to improve his district, he convinced his board to file a lawsuit against the state claiming that if only he could give tests to his students in Spanish, they would do better. Of course they would do better, but when your purpose is to teach them English, that's measuring the wrong outcomes.

In the end, I think that "Tut" is a perfect example of our how California's system of public school accountability is broken. Here you have a 57 year old man, who earned over $170,000 a year failing to accomplish his responsibilities, who whined about how hard it was and who has done damage to the futures of the students with which his district was entrusted. This man will now be retiring and probably collecting over 90% of that salary in retirement without any sanctions or even the requirement to explain his failures. I agree "Tut", that's a broken accountability system.

As a father of daughters, I've had the usual fatherly reaction to some of my daughters' outfits. So, when I saw this headline, "Ohio Cheerleaders Told Uniforms Are Too Short for Class", I figured this Fox News piece was a typical argument between a school and cheerleaders over a uniform.

Monroe Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli told WLWT TV that cheerleaders were instructed to wear long shorts and T-shirts underneath their uniforms at a pep rally Friday.

"The skirts that the cheerleaders wear are very short, and they're very tight and they're slit so they can do the gymnastics that are required of a cheerleader," Lolli told WLWT.com.

Lolli said the skirts are allowed only during assemblies and games.

"You want to have students wear appropriate clothing during the educational period of the day, and then after school, wear the appropriate clothing for the event," she said.

The uniforms have not been an issue in previous years because the district's dress code was not specific on required length for shorts and skirts. The policy was clarified earlier this year, requiring that the bottom of shorts and skirts be no more than 3 inches above the knee.

That sounds reasonable to me. The last thing that schools need are cheerleaders running around in outfits that distract their fellow male students. While I question whether they should be allowed at games as well, I applaud the school's efforts to create a positive learning environment.

I looked down through the article and noticed that it mentioned parents. I thought, "Oh good. The parents are supporting the school." Ummm.... no.

Parent Becky Daniel said the school's dress code should not apply to cheerleader's uniforms.

"My daughter is a senior, this is her last year," Daniel told the station. "We paid for uniforms and they should be able to wear them on game day."

What is Becky thinking? He major concern seems to be that her daughter gets to wear this uniform to class. Why isn't she concerned about whether the uniform is too short or whether it distracts from classroom instruction?

This is an example of where parents' priorities are completely messed up. I can't help but wonder if Becky is what my kids used to call a "cool mom." My son Alex had a middle school experience with a "cool mom" who ended up being arrested for signing kids out of school and giving them pot. Fortunately, my son wasn't one of them, but it did change his attitude towards "cool moms".

I think too often, parents try too hard to be friends to their kids and not hard enough to be parents. Our kids already have lots of friends, but they only have one set of parents. We owe it to them to be a parent. We need to make the hard decisions that no one else will make for us. These parents should be supporting this school's efforts to create an environment where their children can learn instead of worrying about what they paid for a cheerleader uniform.

In a nice change from the articles bemoaning the State Board of Education's decision to test all 8th graders in Algebra I, this San Francisco Chronicle story actually recognizes that Algebra exists in the real world.

Laptop computer. The computer is just an implementation in electrical circuits of a special form of algebra (called Boolean algebra) invented in the 19th century. Ordinary algebra is used to design and manufacture computers, and is at the heart of how to program them.

Cell phone. A cell phone is a particular kind of computer. An important feature of cell phones is that your phone receives all the signals sent to every cell phone in the region, but only responds to signals sent to your phone. This is achieved by using signal coding systems built on algebra.

Parking cop. Today's parking enforcement officers may carry equipment connecting them directly to a central vehicle database that registers your parking fine before you get back to the car and see the ticket on the windshield. Without algebra, such a system could not exist.

Hybrid car. Modern cars often come equipped with GPS, a highly sophisticated system that is designed using enormous amounts of mathematics that builds on algebra.

Delivery truck. Large retail chains use mathematical methods to determine the routing and scheduling of their delivery trucks; algebra is fundamental to those methods.

Stoplight. These days, stoplights are centrally controlled by computers, so there is even algebra involved in turning the light from red to green.

IPod. This is a math device in your hand. The iPod stores music using sophisticated mathematics built on algebra. And the iPod shuffle mechanism uses regular school algebra to order your songs randomly.

In real life Experts in science, computers, sports - even marijuana - use algebra in everyday work

• Brett Wingeier, San Francisco, 34
  Biomedical engineer working on brain implants for epilepsy
  Uses algebra and geometry to calculate the size of the hole to put in a skull to accommodate an electrode.
• Patrick Paulitz, Orangevale, 43
  Computer programmer
  Converts blocks to megabytes, calculates percent increase or decrease in disk space usage.
• Chris Conrad, El Cerrito, 55
  Court-qualified cannabis expert
  Calculates area, mass, bulk, weights, yields and dosages and compares against police findings.
• Marcia Benjamin, San Leandro, 51
  Swim coach
  Calculates a swimmer's lap pace to swim, for example, a 200-meter freestyle race in 2:28.
• Jim Hahn, San Jose, 47
  Corporate trainer, quilter
  Resizes quilt patterns.

Last Saturday, my son Alex and his fiance' Amanda got married at Seaside Beach, north of Fort Bragg. We're glad to add Amanda and her children to our family. You can see pictures of the wedding here.