Public Schools: A Bad Investment? Findings of US Chamber of Commerce Study
Daniel Downs
March 05, 2007
Last week, “Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness” was published by the US Chamber of Commerce. Attempting to apply evaluation methods of quality business practice, the study evaluates state school systems based on nine separate criteria. Those criteria are academic achievement, academic achievement of low-income and minority, students, return on investment, truth in advertising, rigor of standards, postsecondary and workforce readiness, 21st century teaching force, flexibility in management and policy, and data quality. The bottom-line is this: do public schools give tax payers a good return on their investment? The conclusion is a resounding no. As stated in the report:
After inflation, education spending in the United States has tripled in the past four decades. Yet there is little evidence that student achievement has improved as a result. In fact, there has been a disconcerting lack of attention to efficiency or to ensuring that educational dollars are delivering real value. Educators and policymakers, focused for too long on inputs rather than outputs, have tolerated programs and reforms that have not yielded the returns we need.
Forty percent of our nation’s public schools are utterly failing. In those states, taxpayers pay far too much money for poor academic performance. Only a small percentage of students demonstrate any proficiency in reading, writing, or math. Add to those states another 22% where tax payers may pay a little less but they also get mediocre results. That leaves the remaining states that get the most for their tax dollars.
The study did reveal some positive developments. Nearly seventy-five percent of states have a well prepared teaching force. The most important part of education is teachers who can teach and who are capable of preparing America’s children for life in the 21st century. In terms of managerial effectiveness and efficiency, the study also shows 86% of schools already empower school administrators to make necessary decision to meet set goals and standards. Another sign of improvement is in the area of data quality. According to the report, forty-five percent of states have achieved a high level of usable and standardized reporting on relevant academic, financial, and other data. An additional 31% of states may still require improvement but still those schools doing at least an average job.
As far the development of collecting and reporting of quality data, I think these improvements have been the result of past and present reforms initiated by US Department of Education.
The most troublesome finding of “Leaders and Laggards” is the prevalence of dishonesty of most state school officials. Only 20% of state school systems accurately reported student achievement, which means 80% failed the truth in advertisement test. Put another way; most school or state officials deceived the public by inflating student achievement on national exams. If most of our nation’s school leaders are willing to lie, what can be expected of teachers and children?
If honesty was a hallmark of society today, I doubt if most of the hotly debated issues would not even exist. Take for example the issue of school funding. With rising costs and less revenue from investments, school funding has become a real problem for administrators. The numbers of defeated tax levies seem to be increasing. Governments have more dollars available for upgrading or for constructing new buildings. Many communities are very willing increase their taxes to match those capital funds. How are school officials handling it?
In Ohio, school officials have concocted a scheme to get around the voter problem. They have designed a constitutional scheme hoping voters will pass an amendment that will give them authority to tax and spend almost any time and any amount they may be able to get away with. The campaign is called Getting It Right! For Ohio's Future. It is being marketed as the means to accomplish both funding equity ordered by the Ohio Supreme Court and a high quality education for all students. According to State Representative Chris Widener, the Ohio legislature has more than resolved the funding equity problem. Rep. Widener says the legislature changed its funding formula to the advantage of poorer school districts. They also added 7 billion for new school construction and 4 billion for general education expenditures since the Supreme Court ruling. With these changes, Ohio now spends 50 cents of every dollar of the general fund on education. That being the case, school administrators in Ohio fails the truth in advertisement test once again.
In Maine, officials plan to reduce the number of school district from 296 to 26. Millions of dollars will be saved by reducing administration and capital costs. This new kind of downsizing may also increase the student to teacher ratio up to national levels. Here again the saving will be enormous. Like the Ohio plan, local authority and accountability—that is, what remains of it—will end. The idea of popular government will also diminish as the politics of greed ravishes on.
Besides a national epidemic of professional dishonesty, the real problem is not educational funding. The real problem is a political economy grown up on injustice. Fix the problem of income inequity and more funding from more people will be available. Maybe its time for public officials and business concerns develop real solutions to the problem.
After inflation, education spending in the United States has tripled in the past four decades. Yet there is little evidence that student achievement has improved as a result. In fact, there has been a disconcerting lack of attention to efficiency or to ensuring that educational dollars are delivering real value. Educators and policymakers, focused for too long on inputs rather than outputs, have tolerated programs and reforms that have not yielded the returns we need.
Forty percent of our nation’s public schools are utterly failing. In those states, taxpayers pay far too much money for poor academic performance. Only a small percentage of students demonstrate any proficiency in reading, writing, or math. Add to those states another 22% where tax payers may pay a little less but they also get mediocre results. That leaves the remaining states that get the most for their tax dollars.
The study did reveal some positive developments. Nearly seventy-five percent of states have a well prepared teaching force. The most important part of education is teachers who can teach and who are capable of preparing America’s children for life in the 21st century. In terms of managerial effectiveness and efficiency, the study also shows 86% of schools already empower school administrators to make necessary decision to meet set goals and standards. Another sign of improvement is in the area of data quality. According to the report, forty-five percent of states have achieved a high level of usable and standardized reporting on relevant academic, financial, and other data. An additional 31% of states may still require improvement but still those schools doing at least an average job.
As far the development of collecting and reporting of quality data, I think these improvements have been the result of past and present reforms initiated by US Department of Education.
The most troublesome finding of “Leaders and Laggards” is the prevalence of dishonesty of most state school officials. Only 20% of state school systems accurately reported student achievement, which means 80% failed the truth in advertisement test. Put another way; most school or state officials deceived the public by inflating student achievement on national exams. If most of our nation’s school leaders are willing to lie, what can be expected of teachers and children?
If honesty was a hallmark of society today, I doubt if most of the hotly debated issues would not even exist. Take for example the issue of school funding. With rising costs and less revenue from investments, school funding has become a real problem for administrators. The numbers of defeated tax levies seem to be increasing. Governments have more dollars available for upgrading or for constructing new buildings. Many communities are very willing increase their taxes to match those capital funds. How are school officials handling it?
In Ohio, school officials have concocted a scheme to get around the voter problem. They have designed a constitutional scheme hoping voters will pass an amendment that will give them authority to tax and spend almost any time and any amount they may be able to get away with. The campaign is called Getting It Right! For Ohio's Future. It is being marketed as the means to accomplish both funding equity ordered by the Ohio Supreme Court and a high quality education for all students. According to State Representative Chris Widener, the Ohio legislature has more than resolved the funding equity problem. Rep. Widener says the legislature changed its funding formula to the advantage of poorer school districts. They also added 7 billion for new school construction and 4 billion for general education expenditures since the Supreme Court ruling. With these changes, Ohio now spends 50 cents of every dollar of the general fund on education. That being the case, school administrators in Ohio fails the truth in advertisement test once again.
In Maine, officials plan to reduce the number of school district from 296 to 26. Millions of dollars will be saved by reducing administration and capital costs. This new kind of downsizing may also increase the student to teacher ratio up to national levels. Here again the saving will be enormous. Like the Ohio plan, local authority and accountability—that is, what remains of it—will end. The idea of popular government will also diminish as the politics of greed ravishes on.
Besides a national epidemic of professional dishonesty, the real problem is not educational funding. The real problem is a political economy grown up on injustice. Fix the problem of income inequity and more funding from more people will be available. Maybe its time for public officials and business concerns develop real solutions to the problem.
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