The many calls to defund the nation's police forces make no sense at all — another slogan without definition, another emotional reaction without thought. 

Yet, the idea of defunding government agencies that do not deliver the public services they promise makes a lot of sense. Underperforming government schools and their powerful unions would be a good place to start.

The failure of government-owned educational services in the United States is irrefutable.  Study after study has shown that millions of American kids graduate below their grade level in math and ELA (English language arts).  Embarrassingly, we spend more money on this type of schooling than almost any other country.  Talk about value for money; we get none.

Let's get specific.  I served as one of five elected members of the Los Alamitos Unified School District for 12 years.  It was one of the top performing districts in Orange County, Calif.  During my time on the board, we routinely analyzed the results of California's annual required standardized tests, principally the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CaASPP) in two basic categories: math and ELA.  The 2018–19 results show that 48.9% of students were below grade level for ELA and 60.27% below grade level for math.  These results are even more depressing for students in minority communities.  As you can see from the following graphs, there has been little change in student performance over time:

How can anyone argue that government education in California is doing the job?

In my school district in 2018–19 — an affluent area encompassing the cities of Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Rossmoor — 19.35% of students were below grade level in ELA and 42.67% below grade level in math.  I was appalled, and I realized that to argue that only inner-city schools are underperforming is a fallacy.  When I first saw our abysmal math scores, I offered three recommendations that were summarily rejected by the school district's professional administrators and even by my fellow board members.

1. My first recommendation was to make participation in elective activities, such as athletic teams and performing arts programs, contingent on achieving grade level scores on standardized tests.  We would provide extra help and tutoring for students as needed.  I was told we could not do this — it would be viewed as discriminatory by other students, teachers, and coaches.  I was also told the teacher union would never allow this, as it could impact teacher employment.  Furthermore, I was told that if not for these elective activities, some students would simply drop out of school.  I argued that this would encourage better academics and put elective activities in perspective.

2. My second recommendation was to provide a financial incentive to teachers to increase students' achievement.  I was told this would not be legal because teacher compensation is a negotiated item with the teacher union and our "Uniform Compensation System" is a law that must be followed.  Under the law, teacher compensation is based solely on years of employment and educational achievements — never on competency.  In an era where we are re-examining police policies dictated by police unions (keeping disciplinary records hidden from the public, for example), we should be re-examining this job protection provision as well.

3. My final recommendation was for the district to provide vouchers to every student who is below grade level.  These could be used with a private tutor or with one of our own teachers offering tutoring services.  I was told that we could not do this because it would imply that our own teachers are not capable of teaching our own students, and it would cause undesired pushback from the teacher union.  Let's not be unnecessarily disruptive, I was told.

Los Alamitos High School math scores continue to be abysmal right along with the rest of California and the country.  I doubt that parents even realize that this failure is occurring.  We keep doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results — the best definition of insanity we have, whether Albert Einstein said it or not.  Those on the political left are correct about defunding — they just need to redirect their defunding energies to deserving government targets.