Lawyers Changing Oil With Lawsuits

... it's a weird analogy, but work with me here. I was trying to think of professional-types trying to do something practical using bureaucratic methods. Shrug. It's early and I have to get on a plane. They can't all be good.

Ahem.

First, there's this, a story about lawyers suing the California Department of Education over lousy schools.

Assessments found less than half of California students from third grade to fifth grade have met statewide literacy standards since 2015. Both traditional and charter schools are failing, Rosenbaum said.

Of the 26 lowest-performing districts in the nation, 11 are in California, according to the lawsuit. Texas, the largest state after California, has only one district among the 26.

I did some quick research, found a list of bad schools in California, picked one at random and looked at the demographics of its zip code. Half of the families were single women with children.

Well, duh.

Meanwhile, all of the people in suits and ties and with excellent degrees are in plush courtrooms, expensive universities and big government offices, yelling at each other and pointing fingers. Just like they were doing last year and the year before that. Meanwhile, lots of children from single-parent homes can't read. Children growing up in communities where single-parent homes are the norm are particularly screwed.

The usual solutions are being tried.

Ainsworth pointed to more than $10 billion annually in extra funds for English language learners, foster children and students from low-income families. Some 228 districts will get additional support next year to help struggling schools, including the three named in the lawsuit.

Just like they were tried for the last couple of decades. I'm sure it will all work out this time because now we've got lawsuits and court cases, which always helps.

Fortunately, things haven't gotten so bad that we're trying something totally insane like this.