CUSD Slammed in San Jose Paper

When trustees for the shortened the school year as a way to solve their budget woes, they caught the critical eye of an expert in school finance.

Up north.

In Friday’s San Jose Mercury News, Erik Hanushek published an op-ed piece in which he takes Capo to task for .

“It is hard to think of a worse choice,” Hanushek writes. He goes on to say:

Why is this such an attractive budgetary option for unions and school boards? By dealing with all budget issues as a temporary retrenchment, the district never has to adjust to a budget reality lower than its current budget. It need not permanently lay off any teachers.

If the governor and the various school boards do not succeed in extorting tax increases out of the population, the statement is clear: The students will be the first to suffer.

You can read the entire opinion piece here.

According to his bio, Hanushek is an economist specializing in school finance. His most recent book is titled, Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses: Solving the Funding-Achievement Puzzle in America's Public Schools.

It should be noted that Hanushek is a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he serves with Bill Evers, former assistant secretary of education – and husband to Capo Trustee Anna Bryson, who voted against the .