California taxpayers will cough up almost $8 million for Marin County schools

In 2016, Marin County was the 13th richest county in America. Considering how well its high-level white-collar workers weathered the COVID storm, working from home on their computers, it’s likely that it still has a place in that rarefied list. Nevertheless, California’s overtaxed residents are set to hand $7.86 million dollars to Marin public schools in a block grant to be spent over the next five years. Unsurprisingly, given Marin’s overwhelmingly elite leftist bent, that money is mostly going to fund woke initiatives and, judging by the need for English as a Second Language, to deal with an influx of illegal aliens.

One of the draws for Marin County is that, outside of the almost all-Black public schools in Marin City and Sausalito, and the almost all-Hispanic, with tons of illegal aliens, schools in San Rafael, it’s got some of the most highly rated public schools in California. That may not be saying much.

Frankly, my perception after seeing two children through the higher-end public schools in Marin, is that the majority of the teachers were either stupid or uninformed or both. Additionally, the teachers, almost entirely women, disliked healthy boy energy which can be, admittedly, disruptive. What made the schools work so well was OCD parents who spent inordinate amounts of time and money to give their children a leg up academically.

Given the money flowing through Marin County, I was a bit startled to read that California is giving almost $8 million in taxpayer money to give to the Marin schools. I suspect much of it will go to the schools I mentioned in Marin City, Sausalito, and San Rafael. Children, sadly, perform very poorly in those schools, dogged as they are by poor quality teachers and parents who are unable or unwilling to give their children the support they need to overcome the schools’ failures.

Image: Classroom. Pxfuel.

However, when I read the Marin Independent Journal article describing what the school districts and teachers hope to do with the money, I was not sanguine that anything will change for those children (emphasis and bracketed comments mine):

The educator effectiveness grants are to be used over the next five years to “promote educator equity, quality and effectiveness,” according to the state Department of Education.

[snip]

“The Educator Effectiveness Block Grant funds will provide important resources for our schools to support new educators with teacher mentors, develop strategies to address the social emotional needs of students in a positive school climate and to provide academic supports for English learners,” Mary Jane Burke, Marin superintendent of schools, said in an email. [Translation: It won’t go to improve general education; it will go for touchy-feely woke stuff and the influx of children who walked across our southern border.]

[snip]

If he had his wish, Tow said, his three top spending priorities would be: “expand and empower” collaborations among teachers to dissolve silos that promote isolation; focus on “standards-based instruction” as opposed to “throwing everything” at students and overwhelming them; and develop more “teacher-leaders” who can coach newer educators. [So much of that is the gibberish that comes out of teaching colleges and that does nothing to improve education.]

[snip]

In the Sausalito Marin City School District, a $92,815 allocation will go toward a range of support for beginning teachers, particularly in dealing with difficult issues such as restorative justice or cultural sensitivity, according to Superintendent Itoco Garcia. [Wokeness and illegal aliens....]

[snip]

The main spending priorities will be $10,000 per year for teacher coaching and professional development; $7,000 per year to coach newer teachers on responsiveness around cultural sensitivity and language usage in classrooms; $7,000 per year on restorative justice coaching; and $3,000 per year on special education training. [Do I need to say it?]

The one thing that’s pretty darn clear is that the money will not be put to strengthening academics by, say, hiring teachers who have actual knowledge outside of their teacher’s editions of the textbooks. I feel so sorry for the students in these schools, whether they’re legal citizens or not, as they get inundated with feel-good leftism and learn practically nothing.

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