More evidence of unequal classroom closure pain

Sep 25, 2020
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John,

King Gavin: This week, responding to massive wildfires partly created by his own mismanagement, Gavin Newsom signed an executive ([link removed]) order to ban new gas-powered cars in the state beginning in 2035. Newsom is a governor, not a king. With this move, signed by executive fiat, he seems to forget this distinction. How is this move legal? And never mind legal, how about merely logical? As CPC President Will Swaim tweeted:

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Swing states in the Midwest and swing districts in Orange County: Newsom’s order gives President Trump political ammunition in car manufacturing swing states like Ohio and Michigan to argue that Democrats want to take away your internal combustion engines. How about California’s own swing districts? Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, Suzuki, and (until recently, Mitsubishi) all have their North American headquarters in Orange County, where several districts are up for grabs on Election Day. As if these companies needed any more reason to follow Mitsubishi and Toyota (previously headquartered in Torrance) and flee for friendlier confines outside of California. Opposition ([link removed]) to the move, including among labor unions, is fierce.

Big green announcement beats basic software updates: No politician ever received national plaudits and celebrity backslaps for updating outdated government software systems. Newsom overlooked the state’s failing computer systems that process unemployment claims in favor of chasing media headlines trumpeting his green agenda. This week, the state’s Employment Development Department declared ([link removed]) a two-week moratorium on processing new unemployment claims to try to update its Reagan-era processing capabilities and deal with a backlog of roughly 600,000 claims. The state uses a prehistoric software language called COBOL, which dates back to the advent of the internet.

California’s bad job numbers: Now is the worst possible time to delay unemployment claims to perform a software update. California’s jobs numbers are some of the worst ([link removed]) in the nation. The state’s 11.4 percent unemployment rate is the fifth-highest in the country. As Katy Grimes notes ([link removed]) over at the California Globe, the state accounts for about 27 percent of all unemployment claims nationwide. Yet instead of focusing on rebooting the state economy and patching the holes in the safety net, Newsom has directed his attention to his green vanity projects.

Newsom’s hot air: On the latest episode ([link removed]) of National Review’s Radio Free California, CPC President Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen explain how Newsom’s electric car executive order won’t stop wildfires but will slowly strangle the economy.

Speaking of the slow wheels of government bureaucracy: In his most recent analysis ([link removed]) , CPC contributor Edward Ring explains how California’s financial records are also woefully outdated: “If you want current financial information on California’s state government, you won’t find it. The most recent ([link removed]) consolidated annual financial report for California’s state agencies is for the fiscal year ended 6/30/2018. That’s over two years, or nine quarters, ago.”

Schooling loopholes for those with money: The evidence continues to mount that closed classrooms are all pain and no gain, yet schools remain closed. The LA Times reported ([link removed]) last weekend how California parents with money are finding ways to get their kids schooling through various loopholes, such as attending schools rebranded as private daycares or a camps. Despite government-enforced school closures, the piece notes, “many schools have reopened anyway, either by outsourcing their facilities to established providers like the Y or by rebranding as day camps, which are license-exempt and virtually unregulated in California.”

An income inequality divide we should care about: Last week, I mentioned ([link removed]) that most California students have had virtually no learning over the past few months of Zoom classes and summer vacation. A reader emailed me that this comment was an exaggeration. To clarify: Most low-income, disproportionately minority students, whose parents can’t escape the classroom closure status quo or spend the day overseeing Zoom lessons, have had almost no learning over the past several months.

I can speak from personal experience: I was recently able to get my kids into a Culver City Montessori school, which somehow managed to rebrand itself as a daycare, exempt from rules forbidding school reopening. Why can the Montessori school open when Mar Vista elementary school cannot? The school’s workforce isn’t unionized.

Do I want to spend more than $1,000 per month per kid in addition to the ridiculous taxes I pay? Of course not. But I feel lucky that I can. In fact, I also feel guilty. And I’m a libertarian who isn’t supposed to care about this equality stuff! Yet the idea that I can escape the school lockdowns when my neighbors who work for Trader Joe’s cannot leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I avert my gaze when I pile my backpacked kids into the Mazda5 in the mornings.

Schools must reopen immediately for students who want to go. If not, school funding must go directly to parents so that everyone – not only those with means -- can fund education alternatives for their kids.

“Not until after the election”: Barbara Ferrer, LA County Public Health Director, recently said ([link removed]) that schools won’t reopen “until after the election.” You don’t have to listen to Alex Jones to hear comments such as this and think that school shutdown timelines are based on politics, not science. Politicizing science is always bad. But when our kids are used as the political pawns, it’s abhorrent.

Classroom closures aren’t only an issue of education: Schools are sanctuaries where abuse is identified. As EdSource reports ([link removed]) this week, child abuse reports have plummeted since classrooms have been closed: “With most schools in California using distance learning, teachers are only seeing students online, where it’s much more difficult to determine if a child has been physically, emotionally or sexually abused, or is suffering from severe neglect.”

Cultural Marxism for kids: Vladimir Lenin said, “Give me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world.” As CPC contributor Larry Sand explains in his recent piece ([link removed]) , “America’s children are in the process of having their brains scrubbed clean. Instead of teaching actual history, we are seeing more and more curricula that is pointedly critical of America and its traditional values. Facts are irrelevant. Objectivity is non-existent. Lies are truth.” To paraphrase the Washington Post’s self-righteous slogan, democracy dies in this educational darkness.

BART takes taxpayers for a ride: CPC President Will Swaim explains in a new contribution ([link removed]) how the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system ignores financial reality to maintain inflated payroll and pensions during this crisis: “BART must adjust to its new low ridership reality. By protecting employees and retirees from furloughs and benefit cuts during this unprecedented time of reduced demand, the BART board is taking taxpayers for a ride. Next stops: higher taxes, reduced service, and maybe even federal bankruptcy court.”

Where you going to go? When asked recently about a potential California population exodus, former Gov. Jerry Brown flippantly responded ([link removed]) , “Where are you going to go?” Census Bureau data ([link removed]) can answer that question. Of the nearly 200,000 net Californians who left the state in 2018 – the seventh year in a row more people left the state than arrived – 48,000 went to Texas, 35,000 to Arizona, 28,000 to Nevada, 19,000 to Oregon, and 17,000 to Washington.

These are just the number of people who left minus those who arrived in one calendar year. Expect these numbers to increase when 2019 data is released in a few weeks. And expect them to skyrocket in 2020 and beyond if proposed new taxes and regulations are passed. California’s elected officials should reframe their perspective from, “Where are you going to go” to “What can we do to make the middle-class and small businesses want to stay?”


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Jordan Bruneau
Communications Director
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])


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