California politicians wrongly fixate on education spending instead of results

Gov. Gavin Newsom devoted most of his final State of the State address last week to touting what had been accomplished during the past seven years, and one boast was about California’s public school system educating nearly 6 million kids in grades K-12.

Newsom said his new budget would increase spending on the system to $27,418 per student, which includes federal money. He highlighted expansions in pre-kindergarten, programs before and after school and the melding of education with social...