Is Martinez Unified Shortchanged in Gov. Brown's New School Funding Proposal?

Kayleen Parks February 22, 2013 at 11:24 am

I am curious how Acalanes HS manages to get more than MUSD if this is based on the demographics.

Kate Maher February 22, 2013 at 01:09 pm

I agree with Kayleen, there doesn't seem to be accurate numbers. Lafayette, Moraga and Walnut Creek sure have larger demographics than Martinez. If looking at this list we would be ranked #2 highest incoming in the area. Hummmm....

Lawrence Risner February 22, 2013 at 01:40 pm

Looks like some school districts are juggling their books for the cash game???
Aw really? Lafayette, Acalanes & Orinda - give me a break..... Wonder what Danville is going to get - probably so much they dildn't publish it.

Vicki Gordon February 22, 2013 at 02:47 pm

I do not want to sound like I am whining, but we have been given the short end of this formula deal for years. The money that we do get for our students goes towards providing services for students; in other words salary and benefits. MUSD tends to be a stepping stone or revolving door for talented young educators because they can leave and get more money in near by districts. Under our current superintendent, Rami Muth, we have done so very much with so little. Our employees are working so hard and we need to be able to at least keep up with the rising cost of inflation. While many wonderful employees have stayed because of their love for MUSD, I really wonder if they will be able to afford stay if that is what will be the future funding. This is just a heart breaker for me....

Alex Gronke (Editor) February 22, 2013 at 03:32 pm

Here is the actual spreadsheet from the finance department for anyone who wants to make certain that the numbers in this table are accurate. http://www.dof.ca.gov/reports_and_periodicals/district_estimate/documents/LCFF_Funding_Estimates.pdf

morning glory February 24, 2013 at 03:29 am

Thanks Alan. I would like to add that giving $500,000 to math books when we were given a "donation" from the city was probably not the best. Martinez public schools are pretty pathetic. But let's all ignore the truth and pretend that they are not. The school district only can see our children as $ signs. What has happened to Martinez in the last few years?????

Chris J Kapsalis February 24, 2013 at 10:34 am

Why not push for a sin tax to raise the price of alcohol, junk food and cigarettes state wide if the money was earmarked in stone for education? It would take away from something that causes harm and give it to something that causes good. I dread another parcel tax that takes away from something good, something we need to survive, when we could right now start planning to go after so called sins that cause so much harm. If they keep buying at the same rate great for education, if they use less cigarettes or alcohol or fast food great in less burden on our health care system and drunk driving and so on. Either way you win. BTW alcohol sales are still brisk in Toronto Canada where Alcohol is 3 times what it is here. Also Junk food and cigarettes are much higher there, as is their sales tax. But they all have free health care from birth and so many free or affordable educational and vocational programs for young people that I saw. I do not want to be like Canada , but it might be time to start looking at how they get the money for these programs and maybe borrow a few ideas.

Anne Mobley February 26, 2013 at 02:03 am

OMG - really people??? There really are people who think that there are "free" programs??? There is no such thing as "free" healthcare or "free" education or "free" vocational programs or "free" anything.. S O M E O N E pays for it all. The Government is US. We, the taxpayers pay for it one way or the other. It is naive to think otherwise.

Chris J Kapsalis February 26, 2013 at 09:21 am

I would not mind if extra tax was on the so called sins to provide others who may or may not use those things with free or more affordable healthcare. Just my opinion.. Of course taxes pay for our roads and many other things we use for free, as in not have to pay to use again as some things our tax dollars pay for. I'm sure most of the underage students don't legally buy cigarettes or alcohol or pay taxes for that matter and indeed get a free education in the US in public schools. Canada has stretched it out more and put more taxes on "sins" than we do to provide many free programs including healthcare for it's citizens. What word would you prefer? I do not agree with the huge sales tax there, but do agree with the alcohol and fast food, cigarettes and other "sin" taxes etc. Seems your splitting hairs on semantics. Our very freedom isn't free, so maybe they should change that word ? What?

Ron Skrehot March 3, 2013 at 02:30 am

Chris, I wish it was as simple as that. The first problem is that we live in a state who's government is spend crazy. We are taxed more than ever and receive less in return in the way of services. Second, the "sin taxes" we already pay don't get allocated to the problems those products produce. Most of it goes into the general fund and spent on things we don't even vote on like high speed rail projects to nowhere. I won't even begin on the federal out of control spending. Instead of taxing the products that are bad for us, why don't we eliminate them. Why as a society can we legally sell items that kill people or shorten life spans? Guns aside, look at what is in our food now versus 20 years ago and tell me you wonder why so many people are over weight. Taxing the sin doesn't eliminate the problem, it makes it worse and allows government to exercise more control over people through our current poor decisions. Unfortunately the right to exercise our "freedoms" sometimes overrides our own common sense as a society.

Chris J Kapsalis March 3, 2013 at 09:57 am

You cannot eliminate them without creating even larger problems. Prohibition taught us that. Secondly, why is it acceptable to tax a persons home they bought and not the alcohol they bought for education? How is the money earmarked to education from a parcel tax but cannot be form a sin tax? Does not make any sense. And no taxing does not eliminate a problem, as I said alcohol sales are still brisk in Ontario, but it does generate a lot of money for things like education and health care.... The other things you mentioned are other issues we need to also address. I think the first step is making a law that forces money raised for a thing to actually go to that thing or else. The lottery debacle should have taught us that. I really hope there is not another parcel tax on the next ballet for education. Owning a home is the way many save for retirement. Their retirement. Home ownership is also a dream for many that these parcel taxes pull away a little each time, they add up big time though. Tax Sins? Seems much more logical and fair to me than taxing peoples homes.

Anne Mobley March 3, 2013 at 04:08 pm

Ron, I totally agree with everything you said except about the guns. We need to eliminate the psyche drugs that make people do terrible things with guns, knives, cars, etc. It is the drugs that should be eliminated. BTW how the heck are you? Still with our old employer or did you retire too?

Hillary Destra March 5, 2013 at 07:55 am

Including and up to Junior High I was enrolled in the Mentally Gifted Minds program; my Spanish and Gaelic forefathers teaching themselves how to amalgamate linguistically and otherwise. Thank goodness I had MGM to give me a boost as I had real bad parenting and lived in poverty. I eventually ended up in Foster Care system where I had to work so hard night and day, and we (even me, a gifted one) was only allowed one hour a day to study. I don't know that throwing money at broken school systems is a way to improve society. Who is to say the school administrators will put the money to good use when they are so used to dealing with just problems? There's a movie based on a true story starring Hillary Swank about this, if you want an example.
I am sorry to see middle class children or gifted children declinated for a political agenda. Will those schools be speaking other languages in those same classrooms? Without learning proper language in schools we have to have others write for us. I also would hope that in order to find more funding that drug manufacturer/growing/selling laws be enforced and with higher fines and penalties--especially when such activity is around schools--as well as the tax cheating that comes out of that income and/or other types of tax cheating be enforced such as property tax cheating. New taxes are not the solution when cheaters are the problem. More ballet classes, less ballots.