California Tax Dollars, Hard at Not Working in Inglewood Schools

In September 2012 the
California Superintendent of Public Instruction took control
of Inglewood Unified School District (under legislation sponsored
by Sen. Rod Wright, D-Sort-of-Inglewood, who was
later convicted of eight felonies related to his not living in
the district he represents). The legislature authorized $55 million
in emergency loans to keep the district afloat.

$29 million was gone after four months of state control. The
rest will be gone by the end of this year. To accomplish such
impressive feats of wastefulness required tough choices.

Not to be deterred by enrollment that fell from 18,000 in 2003
to 13,000 now, Kent Taylor, the first state-appointed
administrator, added 103 teacher positions.

He didn’t stop there. He also went above and beyond his
authorization to reverse an existing plan for reducing employee
compensation by 15 percent. Then, again beyond his authorization,
he reached an agreement with the union on compensation through
2014-15.

The good news is that Taylor didn’t last long at the helm. He
was replaced after a few months by LaTanya Kirk-Carter. The bad
news is that Kirk-Carter’s budget for 2013-14 included a $10.1
million shortfall, and estimated the previous year’s deficit at
$18.4 million.

She didn’t last long, either. Don Brann took over in the summer
of 2013. No matter who is in control, though, spending millions of
dollars of other people’s money is hard work—IUSD school officials
needed a rest. Early this year the district
spent $38,000 of tax payer money on a retreat to a resort in La
Jolla. When students, those pesky people who want an education,
planned a walkout to protest the costly retreat school officials

called in the police.

Let’s recap. Since September 14, 2012 IUSD has been under state
control. The local school board was stripped of its powers and the
local superintendent was dismissed. The state extended $55 million
in loans. All of that money will be gone by the end of the year.
The district is projected to run a massive deficit next year.
Student enrollment has fallen.

Bureaucrats and central planners are nothing if not consistent.
When a bad situation seems like it couldn’t get any worse they step
in to prove that, given enough money, the mess can get bigger.

For more details of the fun and games in the Inglewood
Unified School District, see Ethan Roberts’ longer
piece on this at Reason.org.