07
November
2006
|
04:27 AM
America/Los_Angeles

11.07.06: Palo Alto schools technologically behind


From my edtech blog for ZDNet, "Palo Alto, ground zero of Silicon Valley, lags in edtech, school quality":

In the middle of Silicon Valley, the hub of computer software and
hardware manufacturing, public schools in Palo Alto are lagging far
behind when it comes to classroom technology, href="http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/article/2006-11-7-pa-pie-study">reports the Palo
Alto Daily News.

A study recently released by Partners in Education found that compared
with five of the nation's best school systems, the Palo Alto School
district lack funding for technology, has the fewest and oldest
computers and limited staffing and instruction to teach computing.

"Performance-wise, we're right in there ... but we're

operating with a lot less staff than other school districts," said

Susan Bailey, president of Partners in Education, a nonprofit

organization that raises private funds for Palo Alto

schools.


In a statement, Partners in Education said funding woes stem from the
fact that California schools have "the most restrictive public funding
model due to Proposition 13 and no ability to adjust funding annually,
except through private donations." Proposition 13, which passed in 1978,
grandfathered low property valuations for tax purposes.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a
watchdog group dedicated to protecting the proposition, countered that
"the problems with education have nothing to do with money."

"We are now spending 30 percent more per pupil, on an

inflation-adjusted basis, than we were just prior to Prop. 13, when

education in California was thought to be the nation's best," Coupal

said.