They are stretched so thin because of "No Child Left Behind". They are trying to get functionally illiterate, Spanish-speaking children to achieve at the level required by NCLB. The class sizes are so huge now that her classroom has been relocated to a trailer with few windows and intermittent air conditioning.

And actually, the expenditures per student vary quite a bit throughout the country. No surprise that the least amount of money spent per student is in the South/Midwest. Look at the difference between Arkansas and Connecticut, for example.

Deadbeat is the keyword in this article, not poor. Poor have resources, deadbeats are just that.

Mountains from molehills.

Now parochial (and non-sectarian private, too, but there are fewer of them) schools do exactly the same job (well... better, but that's an argument for another day) for roughly $7 thousand per student per year. About 1/2 of this cost is paid by the diocese which runs the schools ($ coming unltimately from donations) and 1/2 comes from tuition charged parents who send their kids there. The kids are tested to the same subject matter as the government school kids and do as well or better, yet the total cost is half! Unfortunately, their parents need to come up with half of that half, or around $3500 (the price can get reduced further if you are extra needy). $3500 a year is a lot of $ for even middle class folk, so those schools operate at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting students.

If parents were given a $3500 voucher if they elected to send their kids outside the public schools,
1.the taxpayer would be FAR ahead paying this instead of the $14K per student per year they now pay.
2. parents who otherwise could not afford a private education now could.
3. the government (public) schools would get a firm kick in the ass in that they would now be required to be cost-competitive. Right now, they are granted an exclusive monopoly to funds levied upon taxpayers. It's a sweet deal for sure, but it makes them lazy, inefficient, and not particularly results-driven.

Public schools counter my arguments by saying the private schools do better with less cash because they get the cream of the crop. Well, vouchers would level the playing field and let poor kids have a choice in school as well. What are the districts and teachers' unions afraid of?

In reply to points from Sid (from Gatto's site), public schools (I assume that is what is meant by government schools) do not receive tons of money. Funds are limited and awful in many states. Federal funds are almost nonexistent, state's vary in expenditure, and locally schools are funded by property taxes so there is greater disparity. So making an argument that there is a fund disparity in favor of public over private schools is ridiculous.

And my final point, I love cheese sandwiches! I think I may actually go make one after reading through all the comments that all education related posts always seem to raise.

For other folks who seem to think that Chula Vista is an upper middle class community .... HA! I went to school there. Sure, maybe Eastlake and Otay are okay. But take a cruise around central Chula Vista. Not the best place to be if your in San Diego.

Lien on a house? Puh-leeze! Chula Vista has a large majority of renters, many parts of the community are poor. With the increasing mortgage rates many homeowners are facing tighter and tighter budgets.

For the person who said lunch was only a $1.50 at Chula Vista schools .... yes, it is. (Way up from when I went to school in that district.) But $1.50 is a lot of money for some families, and many families in that community have more than one child.

Agreed. Isn't there a legal system out there? Feed the kids, sue the parents.

To be clear though, Gatto doesn't appear to advocate just "not sending your kids to school" (home schooling?) as Rob does. Rather, Gatto and the Odysses Group just want to *remove* the uncomepetitve monopoly that has been given to government schools, which would force them to compete with parochial schools, home schooling, non-sectarian private schools, &c. The problem we have now is that the government schools stink (in general) because they are given a TON of money per student, and none of the alternatives are. There is absolutely no incentive for government schools to comepete on a quality basis, becuase most parents can't afford the other options. The government schools wind up delivering (generally) a mediocre product, becuase they needn't try harder. Vouchers are one method to get them off their butts, by enabling parents who don't have gobs of $ to have other choices for their kids' education.

I don't feel bad about putting the squeeze on the kids either -- their ungrateful reaction belies the teaching their deadbeat parents have already instilled upon them. I think they are pretty darned lucky to be getting the cheese sandwhiches gratis -- in my world, they would not. A little shame would do wonders to teach these children from becoming the societal burdens their parents have become. Stand on your own feet and stop being leeches! Kids today are really big into "getting respect" but not knowing humility. If those on the dole would endure a little shame at the same time, they'd be more likely to pull their bootstraps up a little quicker (while still not starving).

Straight talk form Sid.

These schools aren't losing any money by giving kids food. There are federal and state funded programs to supply food.

I'm not saying people should get away with NOT paying, but how can you punish one person for something that's not their fault?

-----
rainman Says: Would a homeless person turn down a cheese sandwich?
-----
Yes. They can and do when all they want is alcohol or drugs or cigarettes.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0523072salad1.html

... I pretty much lost faith in mankind and started living like some sort of amish and today the only acceptable food for me is the food I fix myself.

No more restaurant for me... ever.

In any case, considering the price of a couple of pieces of cheese and two slices of bread, you'd think that everyone but the homeless could afford to send their kid in with a similar bag lunch. (Isn't there government cheese any more? My MIL, who was a political refugee from Cuba in 1961 (where she lived a life of luxury, the daughter of a heart surgeon, the granddaughter of the surgeon general) recalls the dreaded government cheese...but also noted that you'd be amazed what you can eat when you're hungry.)

In the UK when I was at school you all got the same lunch, if you had working parents they paid, if you didn't the council paid.

What they did not do was mark out the poor kids for more hardship.

God the US is a morally very twisted country.

Maybe if they try really hard and work together the "deadbeat" parents, the bullies and the authorities who encourage the bulllying can create a few school shooters. For $5 each.

My husband was adopted to a military family that had money, but treated him like crap. He was constantly starving, and wasn't fed properly, often just once a day. Some days he had nothing at all. When he was old enough to, he got a paper route to FEED himself. He looks back on his broken childhood as an important lesson, and is a better person for it.
When I asked him what he thought of this, he said "Ungreatful little sh*ts. I would have LOVED to have that as a kid".

So for everyone that thinks this is unfair...keep in mind, there are worse things. A cheese sandwich is not the end of the world.

In this case, the kids are being punished because of their parents. This is wrong and the DFACS should called. Parents like this should go to jail.