Form and Function

High achievement in public education is not just a function of funding. Students achieve and excel when they have high quality, engaging teachers; supportive parents; up-to-date tools and rigorous curriculum; and a safe environment. When they achieve less and need more assistance, there are counselors, tutors, and various programs.

Besides the tools and facilities, public education is overwhelmingly a function of people. Teachers teach, students learn, administrators oversee sites and departments, and support personnel ensure that cafeterias serve food, equipment works, employee needs are met, and more.

But because education is so people-centered, just how many people work in a district is indeed a function of funding. Likely 80% or more of a school district's budget is dedicated to salary and benefits, and teachers make up the largest segment of any employee group in a district.

There has been much hand wringing of late that public education keeps crying for more money but misspends it, that districts are top heavy in administration, and that money that should go into the classroom is diverted elsewhere. Some may consider this a good sound bite, but that doesn't make it reality.

Arizona falls below the national average when it comes to how much money is spent on administration in public education: 9.0% versus 10.8% (per the latest figures from the Arizona Auditor General and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics). When I was Superintendent of the Paradise Valley School District, our administrative costs were less than 8% and often around 7.5%. But if you think schools really over-employ administrators, direct your argument for change where it belongs -- to your local school board, the elected body ultimately responsible for approving a district's budget and staffing. This is indeed very much a local control issue.

So if administrators are not scooping up money that should go in the classroom, why are most districts not able to reach the 65% bar that has become a rallying cry of presumed effectiveness? Part of the problem lies in the definition of what constitutes "in the classroom" -- and it is so narrow as to push that bar out of reach for most public schools. For example, there are numerous certificated employees, such as librarians, reading specialists, and counselors, who offer vital academic support for students, but are excluded from that 65%. Additionally, facilities themselves fall out of the classroom, and funds to help with maintenance and utilities were cut by the state legislature, requiring district to take M&O dollars from the classroom and put them in roof repairs and air conditioning bills.

Then you have districts that have to pour huge portions of their budgets into transportation and will never reach 65% in the classroom because of geography. Similarly, you have districts that service large populations of special needs students, who require numerous resources throughout the school day. And although districts receive federal I.D.E.A. funds for special education students, I.D.E.A. funding provides less than 40% of what districts much spend to service these students -- and the remaining funds come from the district budget. The list goes on and it's different in every district.

Public education has been cut $1.1 billion in less than two years -- even though the state added more than 121,000 K-12 students since fiscal year 2004. Some of those cuts, such as soft capital funds dedicated to textbooks and instructional materials, are specifically for items considered "in the classroom" funding, thus creating further obstacles to districts' abilities to put more money into the classroom.

School districts are doing more for less and dealing with yet another round of unfunded mandates from the legislature. To declare that public education shouldn't get any more funding -- and deserves to be cut -- because it's bloated and misspends the money it gets is a gross misstatement of reality. Before anyone makes such broad generalizations, they should go do the research into where the money really goes in each district to see how student needs are being met. The figures may add up differently than one thinks.