Often times Legislators will attack pieces of legislation as
”
bad for business
”
or
”
job-killer bills.
”
But not a lot of attention is given to another large employer
that is hurt by over-burdensome regulation. I am talking about our
schools.
Often times Legislators will attack pieces of legislation as “bad for business” or “job-killer bills.” But not a lot of attention is given to another large employer that is hurt by over-burdensome regulation. I am talking about our schools.
The same legislation that is drastically increasing costs for business, and threatening to drive jobs out of California, is also drastically increasing costs in local school districts. Our schools employ a very large number of people. Everyone from classroom teachers, to administrators, to clerical workers; the numbers are massive.
The Workers Compensation Crisis, as well as legislation like Senate Bill 1419, increase administrative costs for schools, and thus decrease the amount of money the district can spend in the classroom.
The University of California has also estimated that if the Legislature had passed every new regulation they proposed last year, it would cost them $80 million more to serve students each and every year. This is empty funding that does nothing to increase the quality of education that college students receive. This does not hire more faculty, or lower tuition or anything else we should be doing for our university students.
One of the most glaring and outrageous examples of regulation-run-amok is Senate Bill 1419 (Alarcon). This piece of legislation put a variety of restrictions on local school districts to prevent them from saving money by contracting out school services like busing or food service.
If all school districts in California were to contract out their busing services, it would save a total of about $200 million over in-house busing. And more money could be saved through contracting out food service, landscaping and maintenance in smaller districts. The Legislature has a great opportunity to restore flexibility to our districts, the Legislature must empower local officials so they can cut costs, and put money back in the classroom.
It may sound like this is a union issue, and many people argue that it is. But in most cases, school districts contract out services to companies where employees are unionized anyway. In fact, the Los Angeles Unified School District contracts out half of their busing services, and those contracts go to Teamsters. This should not be a labor issue. This is about saving money for our schools.
Massive new regulations arc not just bad for business, they are hurting our schools. We need to empower local schools, and let our school boards decide whether or not they should hire outside businesses to drive buses. The Modesto City Schools currently do not contract out their busing because they are a large enough district that an in-house program is cost effective. But they do contract-out their Special Education busing at a substantial cost savings. Local officials should be able to make these decisions without interference from the State Legislature.
Over-regulation and high workers compensation costs hurt the quality of education for our children. I am fighting to make sure we have as much money going into the classroom as possible. But it’s not just about more money; it’s also about smarter spending. The Legislature must not overburden schools by building more bureaucracy. Those aren’t the spending increases I want to see. I want to see the increases that give us better paid teachers, modern facilities, newer textbooks and a better educated California.
Sen. Jeff Denham
