One small addition seems in order. In 1960, the solidly Republican state of California adopted the Donahoe Master Plan for Education. The bill, written by Democrat assemblywoman Dorothy Donahoe, provided for a free higher education to ALL California students. The bill also placed California’s university system firmly at the helm of research and development.

Within a single generation, California had the most well-educated workforce in the country.

In turn, California’s technology, aerospace, agriculture, resource extraction and arts & culture industries grew by leaps and bounds. Americans all across the country joined people from all over the world moving to California - the land of education and opportunity.

One generation later, it was hard to find a native-born Californian in California.

The 1980s Tough on Crime era saw California politicians transferring billions out of education and into policing and prisons. The birth of the state’s school-to-prison pipeline was a one way ticket to Hell and chronic underfunding broke the education system. Tuition at a California University had gone from $200. in 1960, to $16,000. a semester. K-12 teachers were paid so poorly, they were moving into other professions.

Today, California spends about $20,000. per student and $65,000. per inmate.

In January 2021, I left California. A $700,000. home in California costs $250,000. here in Kentucky. Surprise, surprise, surprise, here in Kentucky, I also discovered a state investing in education again.

and that’s my two cents worth for the morning. :)