{"id":2161,"date":"2009-11-05T01:54:09","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2009-11-05T01:58:31","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T01:58:31","slug":"389679","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=2161","title":{"rendered":"$389,679"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a part of what I’m reacting to in the Watertown Times editorial last week (note that I’m not necessarily weeping and rending my garments over the election outcome – I don’t know enough about Owens to have an opinion yet), let me toss this out. In the LA Times today, there was an op-ed which<\/a> – to a large extent I agree with. the author complains about the political idiocy that’s ruling California today:<\/p>\n

The ineffective response to the current financial crisis reflects trends that have been hurting California public education for years. To win votes, political leaders mandated long prison sentences that forced us to stop building schools and start building prisons. This has made us dumber but no safer. Leaders pandered by promising tax cuts no matter what and did not worry about how to provide basic services without that money. Those tax cuts did not make us richer; they’ve made us poorer. To remain in office, they carved out legislative districts that ensured we would have few competitive races and leaders with no ability or incentive to compromise. Rather than strengthening the parties, it pushed both parties to the fringes and weakened them.<\/p>\n

When the economy was good, our leaders failed to make hard choices and then faced disasters like the energy crisis. When the economy turned bad, they made no choices until the economy was worse.<\/p>\n

In response to failures of leadership, voters came up with one cure after another that was worse than the disease — whether it has been over-reliance on initiatives driven by special interests, or term limits that remove qualified people from office, or any of the other ways we have come up with to avoid representative democracy.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what’s not to like?<\/p>\n

He goes on:<\/p>\n

My story is not unique. It is the story of California’s rise from the 1960s to the 1990s. Millions of people stayed here and succeeded because of their California education. We benefited from the foresight of an earlier generation that recognized it had a duty to pay it forward.<\/p>\n

That was the bargain California made with us when it established the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960. By making California the state where every qualified and committed person can receive a low-cost and high-quality education, all of us benefit. Attracting and retaining the leaders of the future helps the state grow bigger and stronger. Economists found that for every dollar the state invests in a CSU student, it receives $4.41 in return.<\/p>\n

So as someone who has lived the California dream, there is nothing more painful to me than to see this dream dying. It is being starved to death by a public that thinks any government service — even public education — is not worth paying for. And by political leaders who do not lead but instead give in to our worst, shortsighted instincts.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But there’s a problem…let me give some examples.<\/p>\n

CSU LA, one local campus of the California State University – the author was a Trustee of the statewide institution – has 119 employees who make over $100K in annual salary – plus 40% burden, I’d guess. The campus President makes $389,679.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the job descriptions and salaries below (I’ve deleted the names, but all this information is available courtesy of the Sacramento Bee<\/a>). And there’s the rub.<\/p>\n

I don’t mind a whit supporting the cost of building out a university system that could be available to everyone in California (side issue: does everyone really have to go to college?). I think that ladder of opportunity is vital to our success as a state and as a nation.<\/p>\n

But when the ladder-builders are getting this fat, lots of people are going to look at their demands for better ladders and wonder whether those ladders are really worth funding.<\/p>\n


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