California’s schools fail most kids year after year — the real definition of insanity

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California’s school results continue to be a national disgrace. There is no reason for the wealthiest state in the country, and the center of the high-tech industry, to be among the country’s worst performers in education.

California education officials may pat themselves on the back for a 1% increase in math scores and a 0.5% increase in English scores.

Yet as the California Post reported, the fact remains that only 38.4% of students in California public schools showed math proficiency on tests this spring. Only 49.3% met or exceeded state standards in English.

You don’t need to be a math genius to know that’s less than a majority, and well below a failing grade.

The state has yet to climb out of the hole caused by the lockdown policies of the pandemic. California public schools — under the influence of the teachers’ unions — remained locked down for a year.

That created a learning gap that has never been filled. It also caused an exodus of students from the system. Those parents who could afford private school, or who had the time to homeschool their kids, did so. Some families simply moved out of state. And some children just stopped showing up.

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There are a few signs of hope. Last year, California’s legislature decided to follow Mississippi’s example and require old-fashioned phonics to be used in teaching children how to read.

But there are also many warning signs. One of them is the massive gap between the state’s best- and worst-performing schools.

San Mateo Park Elementary, just a stone’s throw away from Silicon Valley, saw only 3.57% of its students meet the English standard. Only 5.56% showed proficiency in math.

While there are always individual factors in particular schools, the reason for general stagnation is no mystery.

The California Teachers Association has a stranglehold on education policy in the state. The union’s primary interest is teachers, and their salaries, benefits, and pensions — not today’s students.

In addition, the union indulges all kinds of far-left extreme policies that have nothing to do with education, except perhaps to make it worse.

Every four years, when choosing a state superintendent of schools, California voters send another union-backed candidate to Sacramento.

This year’s test results are a reminder that — as Xavier Becerra said in the gubernatorial debate — the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.