K-12 EducationPrison Spending

Some Questions For Your Leaders

It’s election season. Citizens looking for questions to ask of candidates or state officials might consider the following two:

  1. According to CalMatters: “The cost of imprisoning one person in California has increased by more than 90% in the past decade, reaching a record-breaking $132,860 annually, according to state finance documents.” Is it true that if California spent no more than the national average of $45,771 per inmate, that could free up more than $7 billion for UC and CSU?
  2. According to the Nation’s Report Card, 4th and 8th grade math students in Texas and Florida performed better than 4th and 8th grade math students in California:

Why is that?