Piercing the fog of education budget wars

California’s perennial debate over how much it is and should be spending on its largest-in-the-nation public school system has escalated sharply this year as the state faces a whopping budget deficit and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes – whether seriously or not is uncertain – to take a big bite out of the schools’ money to close it.

The educational establishment and its allies in the Democratic leadership of the Legislature are howling about the governor’s proposal that school spending be whacked by $4.8 billion from what the constitution otherwise would require it to be through the 2008-09 fiscal year.

The Democrats have vowed to block any budget that makes a substantial reduction in state school aid and the California Teachers Association and other school groups have resumed their high-decibel complaint that California’s per-pupil spending is already near the bottom of the states.

Republicans and other critics, meanwhile, complain that California is wasting much of its school money on bloated administration and ineffective, faddish educational nostrums. They cite the state’s near-bottom rankings in national educational achievement test scores.

In the midst of this debate, the Census Bureau on Tuesday issued an extremely detailed accounting of what states (and the District of Columbia) are spending on their schools. It undercuts the mantras being chanted by both of California’s warring political factions.

Unlike other statisticalcompilations about school spending, the Census Bureau’s report is based on hard numbers, is as up-to-date as such data can be (2005-06 fiscal year) and, most important, includes financing from all sources and spending on all categories, rather than the selective figures being batted around by others.

The Census Bureau report strongly refutes the oft-cited “fact” that California is near the bottom in per-pupil school spending. The national average was $9,138 in 2005-06. California was at $8,486, with New York the highest at $14,884 and Utah the lowest at $5,437 – one of 22 states, in fact, that fell below California’s level.

In terms of school revenues, California was 25th among the states at $10,264 per pupil, just under the national average. It was above average in per-pupil income from federal and state sources and about $1,700 per pupil below average in local revenues, thanks to Proposition 13, the 1978 property tax limit measure.

Overall, therefore, California isn’t nearly as deficient in school financing as the education establishment would have us believe. But neither is it wasting money on administrative overkill, as critics on the right contend. Its per-pupil spending on non-instructional “support services” was in fact, slightly below the national average at $3,050, although the sub-categories of overall and school site administration were a bit above average.

The most important aspect of the school spending reports, however, is that they underscore the truism that there’s very little correlation between the amount of money a state spends on public education and how its students fare in academic tests, dropout rates and other measures of educational performance.

California is second from the bottom, for example, in fourth-grade reading scores on national achievement tests, ahead only of Washington, D.C. But Washington is very near the top in per-pupil income and spending at $18,332 in revenue and $13,446 in spending. Conversely, many states nearer the bottom in per-pupil spending, including Utah, outrank California in test scores and other measures.

Money may be important, but it’s clearly not the only factor determining how well schools are educating children. We should be paying attention to what the kids need, not the political goals of adult warriors.

Exotic Ear Piercings

Ears can be pierced just about anywhere from the lower lobes to the thin rim that runs around the entire shell of the ear. Modern piercing techniques allow for easy piercing and more successful healing, especially for cartilage piercings. In order to distinguish one type of ear cartilage piercing from another, a wide array of new piercing names were born.

The ear is the part of the body that is the most accepting of the "if it protrudes, pierce it" school of piercing. Many individual parts of the ear can be pierced and healed successfully. In the picture shown here, the red letters indicate the location of a wide variety of ear piercing variations.

A - Anti-tragus - This piercing is through the thicker cartilage piece adjacent the tragus, attached to the rim of the ear. multiple ear piercings

C - Conch - also, conk. This term refers to any piercing through either the inner or outer shell of the ear.

D - Daith - This inner ear cartilage piercing is just above the opening into the ear canal. The name comes from the Hebrew word meaning "wisdom."

H - Helix - Outer cartilage ridge piercings. This is a popular location for multiple rings, which can be set around the rim, or through the ridge itself.

L - Lobes, stretched - These are bigger gauge holes, usually lower down on the lobe. The smaller the jewelry gauge number, the larger the hole. Jewelry for these can be like tiny tubes or plugs and go up to about an inch and a half in the more commonly found largest sizes. Authentic, tribal jewelry is wearable in these sizes with elaborate, hand-carved pieces crafted from materials such as bone, stone or wood.

R - Rook - These ear piercings goes through the stiff ridge in the fold of the shell of the ear.

T - Tragus - This piercing is through the cartilage chunk just next to the opening of the ear canal. If you are fond of ear bud style head phones, be careful how you set this piercing, as placement deeper into the tissue or a larger gauge ring can interfere with how the buds seat themselves in the ear conch.

An Industrial is when multiple ear piercings are aligned so that one piece of jewelry, usually a barbell, is worn through the two holes. Helix piercings are easily paired this way, especially when the piercings are done specifically for this purpose but any two adjacent piercings that can be comfortabley connected will work. This style has also been called an Ear Orbit when it is done so that a ring is worn through the two holes.

A Transverse piercing runs across the length of the lobe, rather than through it, like a surface piercing on the ear. Placement of this unique piercing usually works best on the lower lobe where the tissue is both flat and flexible.

New California law gets the lead out of piercing jewelry

Hipsters beware: That naval piercing or nose ring may be hazardous to your health.

In rare cases, seizures, organ failure and even death can occur.

That’s the message from the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, which is enforcing a new state law that regulates lead in jewelry, especially piercing jewelry.

That law went into effect March 1.

“Body piercings may be particularly vulnerable to poisoning since lead can enter the bloodstream through the pierced areas,” Maureen Gorsen, director of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, said in a written statement.

To get the point across, officials from the department were in Berkeley on Thursday at Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing shop to spread the word that jewelry must have less than 10 percent lead as of March 1 and less than 6 percent by Aug. 30, 2009.

If they violate the new law, they can face fines of up to $2,500 a day for each piece in their possession.

Kerrie Naslund, 34, a senior piercer at Zebra for 16 years, said she is confident her shop is lead-free because it gets most of its jewelry from American manufacturers who provide certificates showing the metals in piercing jewelry they buy.