THROUGH MY EYES -- Ron Davis

I’ve been getting serious pressure from some readers to provide an update

on Bobo. For those of you who missed it, Bobo is a small, albeit a very

smart, canary who apparently enjoys “reading” my column.

According to his owner, Bobo enjoys having my column, and particularly my

column photo, placed at the bottom of his cage, so that he can target my

views.

In response to the pressure, I contacted Bobo’s owners who advise me that

he is still an avid “reader.” In fact, they report that he is actually

relieved every time my picture hits the bottom of his cage.

I received an e-mail from a reader who took me to task over my support

for Measure A (the high school bond measure), arguing that other school

districts in Orange County have done better than the Huntington Beach

Union High School District.

The reader asserts that since all of the districts receive the same

amount from the state per student, and other districts get better

results, our district must have misspent the money and doesn’t deserve

our support on the bond measure.

The reader set up as their example some of the premier districts in our

area, which I consider somewhat unfair. It is somewhat like arguing that

Billy, who is an A-minus student, is actually failing, when compared to

Nancy, who is an A student.

The appropriate comparison isn’t district to district, but how our

district compares to Orange County, and how we both compare to the

national averages.

We need to remember that education is not only a function of textbooks

and teachers, but is affected by parental involvement, which varies from

district to district.

Thus, it is never surprising when students who come from higher income

homes, with a greater percentage of parents who have a college education,

generally do better than other students without those benefits.

Moreover, we have to recognize that national testing, such as the

Stanford 9 test, while certainly better than a bunch of administrators

telling us how well we’re doing, is in its infancy and is not a science.

Thus, relying on those test scores as a complete answer with regard to

where any of the districts stand educationally is pretty iffy.

But in answer to the reader’s challenge, here’s what I found out

utilizing the test scores:

On a grading scale, the state of California should get a D for education

spending when compared to the national average. As I reported earlier,

California is 37th in the nation on per-pupil spending and well below the

national average.

Accordingly, one would expect that with a D grade for spending, our high

school system would produce kids who achieve only D grades when compared

to the national average.

Actually, Orange County is doing a heck of a job with the money and

producing kids with educational skills just a hair above the national

average.

Huntington Beach Union High School District is doing a little bit better

than the county average, and just a hair below the premier districts the

reader uses as an example.

But the differences between the premier districts in the area, the

county, and our district are almost negligible. What is important is that

while our high school district receives D money, they are producing

results more than a letter grade above what we should expect them to

produce.

However, none of us in this area, or in the state for that matter, should

be satisfied with producing kids with average educational skills, even if

accomplished with a below-average budget.

If our goal as a community is to produce kids with an average education,

mission accomplished -- at less than it should have cost.

On the other hand, if we want to start our kids out in life equipped with

the educational tools that allow them to compete effectively rather than

exist in the middle, we have to pay to renovate our deteriorating high

schools.

To say it more succinctly, we have no hope of ever getting A’s without

supporting Measure A.

* Ron Davis is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can

be reached by e-mail at [email protected].