09.12.08
State education funding in crisis
The Basic Education Act and Article IX, section 1 of the Washington State Constitution states “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children.” State funding for basic education has not kept pace with rising costs, resulting in severe budget shortfalls. Vancouver and Evergreen school districts have also been forced to provide more programs and services mandated but not funded by both state and federal governments.
According to both school districts, local levy dollars have been redirected and reserve funds have been depleted below recommended levels in order to maintain basic programs and services. Many programs have been cut and staff positions have been eliminated.
The state of education funding is at a crisis point:
Vancouver School District has joined the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS) lawsuit against the state for under-funding education. The lawsuit requests that basic education be fully funded as required by the State Constitution.
Vancouver School District faced a $2.4 million budget shortfall for 2007-08 and had to reduce program and staffing levels for the seventh consecutive year.
Evergreen School District is facing a budget shortfall of over $2 million next year. One-third of its students are in portable classrooms and about half receive free or reduced lunches.
Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) have been approved by the legislature but are not extended to all employees. Salary increases have to be redirected from other sources, including the local levy.
Vancouver School District will spend $2.7 million in levy proceeds to transport students in 2008-09. A total of $10 million in expenditures that are normally covered by state funds, such as special education and substitute teaching personnel, will have to be covered from levy funds.
Washington’s teachers are paid $3,000 less than the national average and $12,000 less than the average west coast teacher.
Washington State now ranks 45th in the nation in per student expenditures, and 46th in the nation for average class size.
Washington State’s school funding system receive a D+ rating from Education Week magazine
Basic education should be given top priority. I will work toward these legislative solutions:
Work to prioritize basic education expenditures within the state appropriations process
Build new schools and get our students out of portable classrooms
Pay our teachers competitive salaries and reduce class sizes.
Establish a strategic direction for higher education that will account for changes in demographics and workforce requirements.
Ensure that the proposed “core” curriculum requirement will not diminish resources for career and technical education, which is equally important. We may need to move to a 6-period day to accomplish this.
Every politician says they support education. Here is Don Benton’s voting record:
Supported property tax cuts that set in motion education budget shortfalls across the state
Opposed Senate Bill 6059 authorizing a direct voter initiative providing a cost of living increase for teachers
Opposed 2007 Senate Bill 5841 enhancing early childhood education
Opposed 2007 House Bill 1051 expanding high school completion programs at community colleges
Did not vote on 2006 Senate Bill expanding apprenticeship opportunities for high school graduates
Don Benton did not vote on 2002 Senate Bill 6387 Supplemental operating budget, which included:
$13.5 billion in K-12 education funding
opportunity grants to students in low-income families pursue training in high-demand fields
$60.6 million in special education funding
$12.4 in technology upgrades
$22 million to expand Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program to reach an additional 2,250 children
$25 million to provide health coverage to an additional 38,000 children
$1 million to Evergreen Schools for construction of a Health and BioSciences Academy
Scott Rainey said,
September 25, 2008 at 7:46 pm
A homeschooling tax credit is a pretty big issue in our house. At the moment, the Feds essentially view homeschooling as a “hobby,” and not worthy of the consideration of a tax credit. Tends to take the wind out of one’s sails, to be sure. Our choice to homeschool comes from the fact that we adopted our daughters as older children. They were 6, 8 and 10 when they came home, and we felt it was essential to build the bonds of family with them. They did attend Columbia Valley Elementary for the first year they were home, but we found it hard to rectify that we had these new children that we’d only get to see for maybe three hours a day once they were home from school.
It is my understanding that our local school district still receives state monies for our children, despite the fact that we school them at home. We have purchased a rather expensive set of curricula for the girls, which a tax credit would go a great ways towards helping pay for. I understand the average person’s view of homeschooling, and have held that view myself of some families I’ve encountered. While there are some folks out there who give homeschooling a bad name, and it would be a horrific waste of money to give folks like that even a penny of a tax credit, there are many families doing an outstanding job by their kids, for whom some sort of tax credit would be most beneficial.
Recent articles in Newsweek and The Oregonian illustrate how there are many colleges and universities that are actively recruiting homeschooled students due to their often rigorous academic training. I realize tax credits for homeschoolers is not likely a topic that will register high on the priority lists of many political leaders, given the pressing nature of so many of today’s issues, but I appreciate the opportunity to bend your ear for a few minutes. Perhaps, once we get you elected, this can be an issue that you can take a closer look at.
screekdude said,
October 6, 2008 at 12:04 am
I am not at all impressed by the terms like “education funding crisis” being tossed around in education circles.
The education establishment is just as guilty of bringing about these problems on themselves, as wall street hedge fund executives were for theirs.
You are an economist, so as an aspiring state Senator representing me, I count on you to call a monopoly’s bluff. After all, any entity that has over 90% of a market is a monopoly, as per the justice department. This is not idle talk. There has been data for over 40 years supporting what a bad deal the public education system is.
For example, did you know:
Public education is a lousy investment of tax dollars. Since 1960’s, the SAT scores per real(inflation adjusted) dollar has gone down 71%!! That means we squandered all that exta money and did not gain any performance whatsoever. We got exactly the opposite. In fact, SAT scores went down so much between 1960’s and 2000, that College Board added 100 points to the SAT baseline to artificially inflate the scores. If public education was a true enterprise, it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.
Pet peeves of the system as to why it is so completely miss the mark. Smaller class sizes and increased salaries for teachers and administrators are not correlated to student performance. Even merit pay is a feeble attempt at tinkering around the edges. High performing nations like Korea, Finland, Singapore and Netherlands have a lot lower spending per student, and much larger class sizes. The data are independent of ethnicity, race, gender, and country of origin.
One of the biggest factors that have been proven to work, is the selectivity of schools of education (a subject matter that hardly ever gets brought up). Today, even the bottom 25%ile can get into the schools of education (and they do). The schools of education themselves are filled with professors with similar backgrounds, so what they teach is not much better. Graduating with teacher credentials is easy – if you have the time. And the system that hires teachers, and unions that represent them, defend this piece of paper with their life. When schools of education have high standards for admission, and a rigorous curriculum with strong subject matter content, then the entire system will transform. Eventurally. This is a necessary, but not sufficient condition.
Most district level decisions are made by the district officials, and later “validated” through “rubber stamp” activities called community input. No substansive changes come out of these inputs, they are just noted and filed away. If any parent or parents try to be vocal, then the T-cells of the system fire up, and the person who complains gets marginalized. Most give up and take their kids to private schools, or home school them. School board members are sent to brain washing sessions where they are told to just approve what the superintendent or the administration proposes. I know several active and ex school board members in three different states that have confirmed this. Publicly however, the officials will never confirm this.
On the issue of salary, however, I feel the jury is still out. I think it makes sense to pay higher salaries for better teachers. It is a dirty little secret that the schools of education have been making it too easy for anyone to get in, make it easy for them to get through, and way too easy to graduate. Once the teachers spend a couple of years teaching, then they get tenure, they get raises based on union rules of seniority, not performance. If a teacher does not produce results, it takes years and dollars ($150,000 is a number I have seen quoted) to remove one from work. I am yet to see a teacher removed for poor performance myself. I assert that if good teachers get into the system, eventually, they will see that the system is stacked against them, with no incentive to perform any better than the mediocre ones already there. This is not new, and has been going on for decades, by all accounts. On the compensation side, if you count the job security, time off from work over the summer, pension and health benefits, teachers get comparable pay as any other college graduate. This is the symptom of being a long entrenched monopoly. Just as a matter of comparison, under your own nose, Kings Way Christian and Cornerstone Christian schools turn out much better educated students with lower teacher pay. One of the public school teachers I know sent their son to a private school, because she thought the public schools were not doing a good enough job. They are not alone. A nationwide survey has found that about 25% of the public school teachers send their kids to private schools. In Milwaukee, where the government provides private school vouchers, this number is about 43%. Doesn’t that tell you something?
So, the following would be my recommendation, in the specific case of increasing teacher pay. School employees, especially teachers, need to be measured on the results they produce, based on the improvement in standardized test scores of student performance, and a 360 degree review (reviews by students/parents, principal, and peer teachers). Those who show the largest improvement should get higher raises. Those who get marginal reviews must be placed on probation. If the probation is not successfully completed, they need to be removed. Then, I think the money we put into the system is spent wisely. If the money is spent with no strings attached, you will have to answer to the millions who are getting laid off from private businesses. They will have time on their hands, and fires in their belly, and no sympathy for anyone with the job security and benefits that the teachers have. The unions have made a career out of painting the teachers as the victims. With this as the tool, they have been very successful at getting and maintaining perks for their members. The democratic party has been the unwitting victim of this incessent propaganda, which appears to be showing in your letter.
David – You seem to be an intelligent guy, who should be able to look beyond this BS that is being thrown at you. The system will never improve student performance if you just throw money at it. There will be a million excuses why students cannot improve – poverty, ADHD, lack of parental support, just to name a few. But in the end, the system is responsible for educating our children to be competitive in the job market. I feel you need to be one of the champions of improving student achievement, and not get bogged down in the same old tactics that got us here in the first place. Public education is a monopoly, and has been behaving like one for several decades. There is no reason why the same kind of remedies that worked on breaking up AT&T cannot work with this system. Only we seem incapable of mustering the will to do so.
chucksr said,
October 22, 2008 at 9:11 am
I am sad that people vote a party without knowing the facts. A voter should vote based on the individual running for office, his education, beliefs, morals, values, positions, and experience. Based on Don Benton’s voting record there is little support for the advancement of our children’s future in education. Voting no is not how to earn my vote. I need answers to problems and input to solutions. The investment in our children will advance the future of our society. It is time we think about not voting “THE PARTY”. It is time voters think of the future and not the present pennies they want to pinch. David Carrier is an educator and has my vote.