California
California schools fall behind despite spending increases | Opinion
As academic researchers continue to explore what happened to public education during and after the COVID19 pandemic, they are confirming the harsh reality of decline in such basic skills as reading and mathematics.
California’s schools are no exception, as the latest data from the Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaborative project of Harvard University and Stanford University, reveal.
Combining national and state academic test results, the research found that average student achievement in California remains 31% of a grade equivalent behind 2019 levels in math and 40% of a grade equivalent behind in reading.
However some California school systems bucked the trends. Compton Unified, serving one of Southern California’s poorest communities, was singled out for its progress in both reading and math.
“Between 2022 and 2024, Compton Unified has seen a steady rise in students’ performance on standardized tests in math, and their reading scores saw a jump post pandemic — an improvement that doesn’t surprise district Superintendent Darin Brawley, who has been leading the district since 2012,” EdSource, a website devoted to California education issues, reported.
“Brawley attributes the district’s growth to ongoing diagnostic assessments in both English language arts and math, allocating resources based on students’ performance and aligning district standards to the state’s dashboard.”
“Compton Unified School District’s achievements are truly inspiring,” Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo told EdScource. “Their impressive graduation rate, coupled with significant academic growth and a strong focus on college and career readiness … demonstrate a deep commitment to student success.”
Compton was not alone in going against the grain. Scorecard researchers report that 31% of California students attend districts scoring above 2019 levels in math, with 12% of students in districts scoring above 2019 levels in reading and 10% in districts that have recovered in both.”
Compton and other bright spots tell us that California’s public education system, with nearly 6 million students, is not necessarily doomed. While the education establishment insists that California needs to spend more — a lot more — to raise achievement, the fact that some school districts can do it on the current level of finances indicates there’s more to the equation than money.
One way to look at the relationship of academic achievement and money is what the private sector calls “return on investment.” By happenstance another education research project does exactly that.
The Edunomics Lab at George Washington University has calculated how well school systems are delivering academic results in relationship to how much money they’ve spent since 2013.
California, unfortunately, does not fare well vis-à-vis other states. Edunomics says that while California has elevated per pupil spending by 102% since 2013, reading comprehension has remained flat while math skills have dropped, based on federal academic tests.
California is not alone, since most states have seen academic declines during the period, but its lack of return on investment stands out because its 102% increase in per pupil spending is almost double the national increase of 56% and nearly three times the rate of inflation.
Brian Brennan, executive director of the 21st Century Alliance, a California organization that promotes governance reform and released the Edunomics data, said, “Anyone advocating for more education dollars in California needs to be straight with the public: Will new investments provide better returns than those of the last decade? Or, are we just doing more of the same, and hoping for a different outcome?”
Brennan cites the defeat of legislation that would have mandated the science of reading — in essence, phonics — to teach reading in California, as an example of official neglect. The powerful California Teachers Association led opposition to the legislation, Assembly Bill 2222, which died in the Assembly Education Committee a year ago without a vote.
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Redwood Valley, Calif. — A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Northern California on Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake was centered 7 miles north of Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, north of Ukiah, and east of Highway 101. It had a depth of 5.0 miles.
A ShakeAlert notification went off on many people’s phones moments before the earthquake hit at 8:10 a.m., initially forecasted as a 6.1 magnitude quake by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and downgraded moments later.
People across Northern California felt the quake. Reports came in from as far away as Eureka, Redding, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. Most people reported light to moderate rolling and shaking.
Since the initial quake, several aftershocks have hit the same area. Three smaller quakes between 2.6-2.7 magnitude were detected in the same area between 8:17 a.m. and 9:06 a.m., and are expected to continue.
So far, there have not been any reports of major damage or injuries.
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California
DOJ charges 10 Southern California defendants in largest federal healthcare fraud crackdown in US history
Laura Ingraham: Fraudsters beware!
The Department of Justice announces the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history, charging 455 defendants across 45 states. They allegedly stole $6.5 billion from Medicare and Medicaid through wound care schemes and other fraudulent claims. Some funds were used for luxury homes and vehicles like a $135,000 Maserati.
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Federal authorities on Tuesday charged 10 Southern California defendants in a series of healthcare fraud schemes, including one case involving nearly $270 million in fraudulent Medi-Cal claims and another that allegedly defrauded Medicare out of approximately $27 million.
The charges were part of the Justice Department’s broader “2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown,” which resulted in charges against 455 defendants nationwide in schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged fraud.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche described the operation as “the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating healthcare fraud in history.”
“Fraudsters can no longer rip off American taxpayers,” Blanche said during a news conference announcing the initiative. “If you seek to harm or cheat Americans, we will find you, seize any assets and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
FBI ADDS 2 FUGITIVES TO ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AMID HISTORIC $6.5B HEALTHCARE TAKEDOWN: PATEL
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference announcing what federal officials described as the largest healthcare fraud takedown in U.S. history, resulting in charges against 455 defendants nationwide. (Ken Cedeno / AFP via Getty Images)
In the Central District of California, federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against 10 defendants accused of defrauding government-funded healthcare programs or abusing their positions as medical professionals to illegally prescribe controlled substances.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said five individuals were arrested in the greater Los Angeles area for allegedly participating in a scheme that involved submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal for expensive prescription drugs.
Among those charged was Christina Mareik, 61, also known as Christina Marie Sanchez Hernandez, of Whittier.
HOSPICE FRAUD USES STOLEN IDENTITIES FOR FAKE PATIENTS
The Justice Department announced charges against 10 Southern California defendants in connection with multiple healthcare fraud schemes. (Department of Justice)
Prosecutors allege Mareik helped facilitate fraudulent prescriptions that generated nearly $270 million in claims to Medi-Cal, which ultimately paid out more than $178 million.
According to prosecutors, the claims involved expensive drugs containing low-cost generic ingredients that were either not medically necessary or were never provided to the purported recipients.
Authorities said Mareik also sent thousands of fraudulent prescriptions to a co-conspirator and caused the submission of fraudulent prescriptions under her own name.
LOS ANGELES HOSPICE FRAUD REACHES BILLIONS AS MEDICARE PROVIDERS SCAM FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH FAKE COMPANIES
Federal prosecutors allege Southern California defendants participated in schemes that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal of hundreds of millions of dollars. (Department of Justice)
Mareik was arrested June 17 and charged with healthcare fraud.
The charges also include a San Fernando Valley man accused of operating hospice care companies that fraudulently billed Medicare approximately $27 million, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors also charged Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys; Abraham Shin, 66, of Corona; and Jeannie Choi, 57, of Torrance.
The three defendants face a 16-count indictment alleging they conspired to defraud Medicare out of approximately $27 million.
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The charges include conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, monetary transactions involving criminally derived property exceeding $10,000, and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
The IPOs of SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic could deliver billions of dollars to California’s coffers.
We’ve seen this movie before.
In 2022, California recorded a nearly $100 billion surplus, saved just $10 billion in its rainy day fund and then spent the rest. Two years later, a $56 billion deficit loomed.
Now, with the state facing ongoing operating deficits of more than $10 billion, we’re back in familiar territory.
The coming IPO windfall is a rare second chance. But we’ll only benefit from it if we first fix the structural flaw that’s caused us to squander every previous boom — a budget reserve that isn’t built to hold what we put in it.
The stakes this time are higher than ever. The war in Iran raised recession risk, and the federal government is systematically dismantling the funding streams California has depended on for decades.
When Washington retreats, Sacramento has to choose: cut services, raise taxes or have enough saved to bridge the gap. Right now, we don’t have enough saved.
We’re not outside observers wringing our hands. We helped shape the fiscal architecture the state is now straining against, and we’re here to say: It needs to be rebuilt.
As California state controller, one of us campaigned alongside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pass Proposition 58 in 2004 — creating California’s first Budget Stabilization Account. The other authored the Assembly Constitutional Amendment that became Proposition 2 in 2014 — the stronger, harder-to-raid replacement that voters approved with 69% support.
California’s tax system is the envy of progressive states and the nightmare of budget directors. We tax the wealthy at high rates, capture enormous capital gains revenue in boom years and then discover — every single time — that the peak doesn’t last.
If California treats the IPO windfall from SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI as permanent revenue, our state would repeat exactly the mistake we made four years ago.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Avelino Valencia have each proposed important reforms to strengthen the fund. First, they call for requiring the state to make deposits until the fund reaches 20% of the general fund total, rather than the current 10%. Second, they propose changing an arcane accounting rule that treats saving for future downturns as spending.
We see one additional opportunity to make the rainy day fund even stronger.
If we want a larger budget reserve, we have to do more than merely allow it — we need to require it. Proposition 58 taught us everything we need to know on this front: Between 2004 and 2014, with that proposition fund in place, only two deposits were made. If we want consistent deposits during the boom times, they can’t be optional.
These reforms should be a win-win for the California Legislature. A larger reserve is the most durable protection that public sector workers, social service recipients and education advocates have against the kind of emergency cuts that have repeatedly gutted programs during downturns.
It’s also the strongest argument against tax increases in a recession because you don’t need to raise taxes if you actually save during the booms.
Building a stronger rainy day fund isn’t the cautious choice. It’s the visionary one — the closest thing we have to investing in the next generation of Californians.
We built the last rainy day fund because we’d lived through the consequences of not having one. We’re making the same argument again, for the same reason except now the stakes are higher. This time, the federal backstop is weaker, and the next storm is closer than it looks.
Fix the fund this year. The next generation of Californians will thank us for it.
Mike Gatto served in the state Assembly between 2010 and 2016, and he authored the measure that created California’s current rainy day fund. Steve Westly served as state controller between 2003 and 2007, and he co-championed Proposition 58, California’s original rainy day fund. Westly chairs the 21st Century Alliance, a nonpartisan organization focused on solutions to the state’s most pressing challenges.
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