“In a nutshell, LAUSD’s per-student budget is over $18,000 a year. Only a fraction of that (10% to 50%) actually reaches classrooms, while the rest disappears into the hallucinogenic chaos of union contracts, union dues, lemon teachers, 80,000 employees, and political activism. In 2005, the California Teacher’s Association (CTA) alone spent an estimated $50 million to defeat Prop 75. If fully-funded vouchers ($18,000/year) were made available to parents to enroll children in private schools and charters, schools would pop up throughout Los Angeles like mushrooms. By redistributing LAUSD’s per-student budget, parents could decide whether to place their children in public, private, or charter schools as easily as shopping for a car. Private schools that decide to participate should be accredited at or above state standards to receive funding. The idea is simple, intuitive, and elegant”. –Clark Baker, writing on his blog Ex-Liberal in Hollywood