LAUSD: More Money for Less Education

Re “School Bond Is Tougher Sell Now” (June 20), on how the L.A. Unified School District is going to spend millions to promote another bond proposal: This from the same board that has already squandered billions from a previous bond issue approved by the voters, that mucked up the Belmont Learning Complex--and thought it best to spend tens of thousands of dollars on private bathrooms for each of the board members.

And this is a “reform” board?

If there are millions of dollars in a drawer somewhere that are available to promote another bond proposal, take that money and spend it first on the students, teachers and school buildings.

The LAUSD is not a moneymaking enterprise, buying commercials to promote itself like Budweiser or Ford. The LAUSD gets its money from the taxpayers, and we’ve made it clear we want the money spent on our kids.

If the LAUSD has done and continues to do its job, and the kids really get educated, the kids’ success will be advertisement enough for the district’s achievements. Stop wasting money on self-aggrandizing efforts that have no visible impact on the “bottom line”--not profits but successful students.

Becky Mocciaro

Los Angeles

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Once again the snake oil salespeople are attempting to present the taxpayers with a multibillion-dollar bond issue to “fix or build” schools in the LAUSD. Not only is the LAUSD pushing its mega-grab of taxpayer money, it is not even mentioning that Sacramento is planning a statewide bond issue in the billions of dollars at the same time. It’s time for a reality check in California. Every dollar going into public education in this state, especially in Los Angeles, is a waste of taxpayer money. The more money that flows into the school system, the worse the attainment level of graduating students.

Parents of students are not carrying their fair share of the expense of educating their children. Too many parents seem to feel that a school is a surrogate parent, responsible for the upbringing of their children as well as their education. It’s not too surprising, then, to see the low levels of achievement in our public schools. The only way to get parents involved in the education of their children and the condition of the school environment is to have the parents pay for their children’s education.

Harold E. Boucher

West Hills