School Corruption in the South

As a resident of the South Bay in Los Angeles County, I was not surprised to read about the culture of corruption in South Bay schools in San Diego County.

Poway Unified already informed property owners of debt-busting hyperinflation from voter-approved bond measures. Now district leaders in San Ysidro and Sweetwater Union High School District are under investigation for bribery in connection with construction contracts. The politicization of public school administration has created rampant opportunities for spoiling the public purse for private gain.

As a cold consolation for San Diego residents, the same construction-corruption frenzy has swept Los Angeles-South Bay.

Beyond their suspect improvement of test scores (they banish struggling students into lackluster continuations schools) and retaliation against good teachers who speak up, Centinela Valley Union High School District appropriates millions of bond dollars toward a construction company whose campaign donations practically bought the election of the approving school board members. Local leaders have complained in the press and in court that the school district has arbitrarily knocked down historical landmarks in order to funnel a construction boomlet at Leuzinger High School.

Lennox School District put one assistant superintendent on leave for allegations of misappropriate funds. To the possible credit of the district, the assistant superintendent is a well-regarded member of the community who has worked in Lennox for decades. The head of the teachers' union suggested that he, like also every administrator in public education, was wearing too many hats. With all the rules and regulations that come with public appropriations, no wonder that many districts find themselves inevitably slipping into allegations of misuse. How can anyone keep track of all the paperwork?

Inglewood Unified has entered state receivership because of the corruption which has bled the district bankrupt. Like Centinela Valley, Inglewood Unified is synonymous with corruption, from superintendents who practically rule the district like dictators in a failed state, to the teachers who command little respect and even less authority over their classrooms, to the students who routinely return home with missing grades on their report cards because  half the teachers are long-term substitute teachers.

When will the voters, the press, and our leaders in California stop being surprised by the vagrant waves of corruption wiping out our schools?  Beyond the waste of taxpayer dollars and published allegations of crime, Government schools are hardly “public”. Local leaders have sporadic access to public records. Conscientious school board members cannot research district expenditures  

More charter schools, a voucher program, and fewer restrictions on homeschooling, plus the gradual demise of school boards and teachers unions, will end the vagrant corruption of the public trust in public education. At least federal authorities are investigating the corruption in South Bay San Diego, but only reforms which focus on expanding the power of choice for parents and students will ensure that school districts use their finances properly. Not the privatization of schools necessarily, but competition among schools will force districts to attract students.

With the breakdown of budgeting in Sacramento, with the ongoing financial hardships menacing school districts, public institutions will have no choice but to implement "free-market" reforms, or face further financial deprivation. All the legislating and state force cannot bring forth the necessary revenue, and corruption rampant will only expose and explode the problems exacerbating our schools.