Academic standards for Conejo Valley Unified School District are among the highest in the nation, but according to Education Week magazine, the per pupil funding for it and other school districts in California has dropped to 47th in the nation.

Parents have made up for some of the shortfall in CVUSD.

Volunteer contributions and charitable donations have helped close the gap. The sky isn't falling, and our children will continue to receive a top-notch public education, despite the dire predictions.

Still, the combined total loss in revenue to the five East Ventura County school districts in the recently approved state budget is more than $17 million this year and an additional $4 million next year.

The budget cuts represent a two-year loss of $337 for each of the more than 62,000 students in Conejo, Oak Park, Las Virgenes, Moorpark and Simi school districts.

Under the new budget, according to calculations provided by school district superintendents, public education will absorb $8.4 billion of the $15 billion in cuts made to all state agencies.

This represents 56 percent of the overall cuts, even though education represents only 40 percent of the state budget.

Only 40 percent?

Therein lies part of the problem.

The state's public education budget has grown to grandiose proportions due in part to plump union benefit packages, stepand-ladder pay increases (pay raises not based solely on merit), and a host of other expenses such as the implementation of alternative education programs and the purchasing of new textbooks at much-too-frequent intervals.

Two plus two still equals four—always has, always will. So why the new elementary math book? In addition, field trips could be cut back and teacher "development days" could be curtailed. Certain expenditures aren't wasteful—they're just unnecessary.

The catch phrase at the turn of this century was "class size reduction," but while having more teachers and fewer students is a laudable goal, small, inefficient classrooms no longer make dollars and sense in today's economy.

A good student will thrive whether he's one in 20 or one in 30. The average student will just have to work harder. Teachers and administrators will have to work harder, too, and perhaps for less pay.

It's the new formula for the private sector, and it should apply to the state's public employees as well.