Some legislators familiar with the report are also pessimistic about the prospects of implementing the panel's recommendations, which include two costly initiatives: $1.1 billion to expand pre-school programs with free day-care and all-day kindergarten and $5 billion for a program for poor students who are learning English. [ School reforms price tag: $6 billion San Jose Mercury News, Jan 4 2008]That's $5 billion in addition to what is already being spent to teach English to foreign kiddies. California now pays a stunning $66 billion on general education costs for K-12, half of the entire budget.
But no amount of taxpayer money will ever be enough to bring California schools up to previous standards as long as education-disinterested Mexicans are allowed to keep coming.