What does $109 million buy in Seattle schools?
One of my biggest frustrations as a member of the House Education Appropriations Committee is the deep complexity of our state’s school finance. It’s really, truly, genuinely hard to understand how the money flows, into what buckets and how it’s spent. And that’s to say nothing of even trying to connect dollars to desired outcomes. That is one of the central hopes of education reform….getting our hands around dollars spent for value received.
As a businessman I find it enraging how government has managed to make financing a policy or a program a ‘silo’ rather than to follow common sense, apples-to-apples accounting principles. It’s hard not to feel that the institutional infrastructure of government–at all levels– prefers complexity to simplicity.
I’ve been taking a look lately at the Seattle Public School District’s finances. It is extremely hard to understand how the money flows. My recent experience of helping to kill the dreaded parent tax has me in good spirits about the district’s willingness to engage with parents, so I hope we can continue that by opening the books in a more transparent way.
So as a non expert in education finance, I admit I’m probably off base here. But take a look at the very high level data.
In the 2004-2005 fiscal year, with 44,745 full time enrolled students, the SPS district had total revenues including local, state and federal dollars of $430,670,747. The breakdown was: 57% state, 29% local, 12% federal and misc.
Fast forward to the 2008-2009 fiscal year, with 43,769 students, and the total revenues were: $518,171,212. That’s an increase of over $87 million at a time when inflation was virtually non existent.
And I think that’s great. More money for kids and education. But the concern is results. With a steady number of students, one would naturally assume we have seen value for those dollars in some form. How do we measure those results and what we achieved for the $87 million incremental dollars? Has our graduation rate gone up? Have the number of students experiencing discipline problems gone down? Have we recruited and retained teachers more effectively? I don’t really know, but I hope the school board members do.
Stay with me here. Let’s look at the expenditure side of the spread sheet.
Total expenditures in 2004-2005 were $418,841,226. I’m still working on the breakdown of expense categories. Total expenditures in the 2008-2009 fiscal year were $528,663,176. That does not take into account a deficit of $10,491.964.
So between 2004 and 2008 fiscal years revenues increased $87 million, expenses increased $109 million and the number of students stayed effectively the same.
Have we gained meaningful, measured and purposeful value for the $109 million in additional spending and, if so, how do we know?
I am passionately committed to voting for the dollars needed for public education. But I can’t answer the central question of whether we are receiving more value for our dollar and it doesn’t feel right.
As a parent and legislator, I want to see more thoughtful evidence of outcomes, accountability, measurement and results for the parents and taxpayers we serve. Not more test scores but more learning. That does NOT mean more data about just the hot button math and sciences, it means art, music, theater and what kind of education we are providing our children to think and be who they are!
We are spending a lot of money on our children in Seattle. I want us to educate them not just be machines in the industrial era of tomorrow, but to be engaged citizens who live lives with purpose and meaning.
We need a radical, aggressive, bold and serious commitment to a new level of transparency in education funding.
Your partner in service,
Reuven.
If 20%-25% increases in “revenue” cannot keep up with providing services for a static number of students SPS is in big trouble.
What number would have been required to avoid the current crisis? 40%-45% increases in revenue?
Epic Failure.
According to the SPS website, the 2009-10 Operating Budget for the Seattle Public Schools, for 43,000 students was $38 million more, or $556,700,000.
We are pouring money into the public schools and allowing central district bureaucrats, not school principals, decide how to spend that money. The result is that spending on Teaching Support staff (coaches, counselors, nurses) increases at the same time that spending on Teaching decreases.
In Seattle, approximately half of the per pupil funding the district receives actually reaches each school.
Tranferring power over school spending from the central district to the school principal will improve the way we spend existing resources. School principals should receive 80-90% of per pupil spending the district receives, and with that money schools would have plenty of resources at their disposal, and could decide which services they wish to purchase from the central district, or not.
Thanks for continuing to shine a spotlight on these issues.
My children have been in SPS for six years. During those six year, the same years that you have outlined for an increase in school funding, there has been a cut to the classroom each year. I have worked closely with our building budget and I can vouch for every one of those cuts. Michael DeBell also commented at recent board meeting, that the board has cut the budget during each year of his tenure. Where is the money going if not to the classroom?
Completely agree with your last 4 paragraphs. But we have the wrong superintendent for any of this. Seriously Reuben. Nothing will change until her regime does. Testing standards are valued. So is centralized control of money, and redistribution of funds in accordance with her strategic plans, which have nothing to do with the values you outline. The district obfuscates at every opportunity the ability to follow the dollar around. Oh, they’ll produce spreadsheets, but they don’t follow $$ by project, so lay people are left in the dark about the shifting of $$ out of classrooms and into centralized control unless some occasional smart cookie catches on and shares the info with the community. An enjoyable resource for you should be Meg Diaz, a financial whiz who is now constantly standing up to staff and letting the board know when staff is glossing over its underlying intentions. You’ll see a lot of her on saveseattleschools.blogspot.com
Rueben, look at the central staff cuts, which the district is touting, but aren’t even up to the promised levels. Look at how staff is holding projected enrollment down at certain schools to “balance” the budget, when they know full well actual enrollment will top the projections. Look at how staff refused to take principals’ recommendations not to cut counselors under advisement. Look at how the shifting of FRL $$ are impacting students like at Thurgood Marshall. Finally look at how $ 3million that could go into the classroom next year is instead earmarked for performance management initiatives, most of which is directed toward either new testing or teacher coaches. Bah. Double bah. Again, a great way to help the district is to use your political contacts to get her out of the disrict, and also to insist on more budget transparency and to allow school principals more discretion in how they meet the needs of their students.
Reuven … I like that engage them in good spirits….
I am filing a Writ of Mandamus at the WA Supreme Court today.
See Writ Here
http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2010/03/performance-accountability-needed-from.html
Reuven,
See if you can figure out why the district is appealing the “Discovering Math” decision by Judge Spector……… I looked as carefully as I can and can find only one reason.
This appeal has been filed because Spector’s order of remand … violates the Queen’s Divine Right to exclude evidence. I am serious … that is all I can find.
Whoops. Reuven not Reuben. Kind apologies. I get so upset about SPS that common courtesy and spelling ellude me at times.
Education is one area where I actually feel like my State Representative is representing me (man, it’s been downright discouraging of late) Keep up the good work on challenging this ridiculous system of bureaucratic red tape.
It’s encouraging that you seem to smell the “dead rat” in our school systems that so many State Democrats turn a blind eye too. It’s happening all over the country, though. It’s time to shine the light of transparency on these districts and the superintendents and make them be accountable for the spending!!!!
Once you find the money trail, maybe then you can challenge the other side of this two-headed beast that is holding our children’s success hostage: the TEACHERS UNION.
If you haven’t already, I challenge you to watch “Stupid In America”- a 20/20 piece: