How to save more money: The California Budget

Published in the San Francisco Examiner

How to save more money

Letters, December 28, 2010

I hope the Jerry Brown administration considers all suggestions for reducing the budget problem, including Dan Walters’ suggestion (“Closing tax loopholes could help California’s budget gap,” Friday).

Walters’ idea would save about $1 billion dollars a year. Here’s how we can save another half-billion: Eliminate the high school exit examination. Analyst Jo Ann Behm has estimated that the combined state and local costs of California’s test exceed $500 million per year.

The most recent review of research on exit exams, done by researchers at the University of Texas, concluded that high school exit exams do not lead to more college attendance, increased student learning or higher employment.

In fact, researchers have yet to discover any benefits of having a high school exit exam.

Stephen Krashen, Professor emeritus, USC, Los Angeles