by Jonathan Butcher
Goldwater Institute
Gov. Brewer took some heat last week because, in July, Arizona actually had a $35 million surplus – and the governor didn’t reflexively swear that the money would be sent straight to schools. Some assume that making education a priority means increasing public school funding at every opportunity, creating an echo chamber of outrage when this idea isn’t obvious to everyone.
In his new book Special Interest: Teacher’s Unions and America’s Public Schools, Stanford professor Terry Moe explains that “more-not-less” is not an objective answer to education funding questions. On the common assumption that teachers are underpaid, he asks, “Underpaid compared to what? What does underpaid even mean?” The same can be asked about school funding – schools are underfunded compared to what? What does “underfunded” even mean?
Those who decry any budget without an increase in school funding rarely, if ever, point to a dollar amount that would satisfy them. They are simply indignant at any proposition that there might not be an increase in education funding.
From 2011 to 2012, state education funding wasn’t cut – it just didn’t increase as much as some wanted. While it is true that Arizona spends less per pupil than many other states around the country, keep in mind that we are in one of the highest-spending countries in the world. Nations like South Korea, Finland, and New Zealand routinely outperform the U.S. on international assessments but spend less per student.
Moe doesn’t imply that teachers are rich, nor am I suggesting that every classroom has everything it needs. But Arizona has a ratio of teaching to non-teaching staff of almost 1:1, yet school districts cut more teachers over the past three years than non-teachers. Parents need to ask their districts why teachers are losing their jobs while bureaucrats are keeping theirs.
Those troubled that this year’s budget is about the same as last year’s should wonder exactly what kind of system is being preserved.
Jonathan Butcher is education director for the Goldwater Institute.
Learn more:
Goldwater Institute: State budget cuts should include education bureaucrats
East Valley Tribune: Census shows Arizona school districts cut 10,000 jobs
Arizona Daily Star: No plan to use AZ surplus on education
Absolutely spot on Mr. Butcher.
Exactly.
That’s all without getting into the fact that school administrators and teachers from coast to coast together are not delivering the stated product: “globally competitive education.” THEY say it ALL the time.
Not even CLOSE to one. A FAIL. Forget about “underpaid” … SACKED should be the word. The current crop of “facilitators” had plenty of time to get up to speed in their stated subjects and didn’t. If they could teach at the current salaries, they would be TEACHING and the students achieving, but they aren’t. If they accepted a plainly stated job to TEACH and don’t because they claim they aren’t being paid enough to deliver solid academic results, it’s a failure to honor the job contractual expectations and a disgusting lie.
Throwing more money to the same failing school employees just puts more money in their pockets and the public will get nothing in return.
The overhaul necessary to save the US educational system is more massive than most people comprehend. We need TEACHERS. We don’t have them because the monopoly of the teaching colleges isn’t producing them, and hasn’t been for about four decades. That’s four decades of steadily degraded education – results plunging as costs skyrocketed.
“Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Arizona and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Arizonans spend approximately $820 million annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings.”
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters5e3f
AFter years in US public schools, Hispanic students can’t read or write in Spanish or English. Anglophone students can’t read or write in English. Math? WHat’s THAT?
Not exaggerating. So, no one is gettiing anything, except broke. The illegal Mexican students couldn’t pass a standard Mexican academic entrance exam, which is more rigorous than the US exams.
The educrats will never be satisfied with whatever funding they receive. If they asked for $15 Billion and got it, they would, in short order, complain that it wasn’t enough. You could give them an unlimited bank account and they would still overspend.
Excellent point, RonJ!
Excellent point? What heck point can be found in a made up claim?
Here’s the big lie in the Goldwater release: those who favor increased budgets do give the amount they want – that’s part of the bugetting process. Both parties put forth competing proposals and, typically, the majority party gets what it wants.
There is a interesting debate to be had here: what is underfunding, what is a fair salery? Too bad the Goldwater Institute can’t be trusted to participate in this debate as an honest broker of information.
Increasingly, just too many fails from the GI to take it seriously.
Yeah, there’s an interesting debate to be had here:
“Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Arizona and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Arizonans spend approximately $820 million annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings.”
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters5e3f
Where is the money going? Why do we need more and more money?
That is a great question – let’s see if the GI can address that one!
What’s a fair salary if the employee isn’t accomplishing the stated job?
They aren’t educating year after year, so why are they getting paid year after year? Any other industry and they would have been fired immediately after the first comprehensive exam results came in that quantified their performance achievement. The fact that so many schools resort to exam cheating to hide the decline exposes the complete untrustworthiness of the system as it is now.
Giving those facilitators one extra penny is a travesty, and they are hogging spaces that could be filled by people with actual competencies in the necessary subjects.