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South Carolina: State Supreme Court Turns School Funding Case Over to Legislature

By dianeravitch
November 29, 2017 //
3

In South Carolina, funding for schools is both inadequate and inequitable.

Blogger Jean Jacques CrawB writes “They are destroying our children.”

“Evidently the current Supreme Court of the state of South Carolina has no trouble decimating our schools for the sake of some political purpose. The Abbeville equity case has gone on since 1992. It was finally decided in 2014 by a 3-2 vote affirming the plaintiff’s contention that the funding system is unfair and inequitable.

“Now, in the last few months of 2017, having replaced two judges, the Supremes now say, by a 3-2 vote that they are relinquishing control of the case and giving it back to the legislature to attend to. The court also praised the legislature for what they have already done. No one here can figure out what large things have been done to ameliorate the lack of resources and the lack of qualified teachers in rural school districts.

“South Carolina educators have not been aggressive in their lobbying efforts. The Abbeville case was their greatest hope for a reversal of policies that always disadvantaged poor and rural schools. As a simple example: whenever funds are dispersed in some sort of novel way, the condition of dispersal is the number of children in the district. Therefore, a small rural district might get an increase of $100 per student and in the same distribution a wealthy district would get the same amount per person.”

Categories Funding, Inequity, Injustice

Stephen Dyer: How Kids Not in Charters Are Hurt By Charter Funding

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
7

Stephen Dyer, a fellow with Innovation Ohio and former legislator, explains how the charter funding system in Ohio takes money away from students who are not in charters.

“It’s really easy to sit back and make esoteric arguments about how Ohio’s charter school funding system hurts kids who are not in charter schools. And there’s a recognition from leaders in the Ohio General Assembly that the funding system — which diverts state funding meant for a district to a charter — is a shell game that leave school districts with far less state revenue than the state says they need to effectively educate their students. This, in turn, forces school districts to use sometimes large segments of their locally raised revenue to make up the difference.

“But what does that mean for a kid attending a local public school district?

“As an example, I’m going to use a student in Columbus City Schools. Let’s assume he or she started first grade in the 2005-2006 school year, which would make this student a senior this year (by the way, I was first elected to the Ohio House in 2006. Wow, does this make me feel old!)

“Anyway, I looked at how much state funding this student lost each year of their career because charter schools receive so much more per pupil state funding than Columbus City Schools would have received for the same kids. (Looking at state funding reports here and doing addition and subtraction based on number of students in Columbus before and after charter students leave, as well as how much state funding comes to Columbus before and after charter students leave.)

“Yes, I know charters can’t raise local revenue. However, the legislature has chosen to not put its money where its school choice mouth is and create a separate fund to make charter schools whole. Instead, they make up a chunk of the local funding disparity by removing extra state funding from the local school district’s bottom line, forcing local property taxpayers to do their work for them.”

Check out his graphs and data.

So, for every student who began their Columbus City Schools career in 2005-2006, they have received $10,548 fewer in state revenue, with another $1,142 set to be lost this, their senior year (charter enrollment is so volatile, this figure could change substantially during the year). To give you a sense of scale, that amount equals about the amount of state funding these Columbus students received their first three years of school — in many ways the most important years.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Funding, Ohio

At the NPE Conference, Dr. Charles Foster Johnson Explains How Pastors for Texas Kids Fought Against Vouchers and for Funding Public Schools

By dianeravitch
November 17, 2017 //
2

I forgot to include the link on this post, so I am reposting.

This was one of the best keynote speeches from the fourth annual conference of the Network for Public Education in Oakland. They were moving, inspiring, powerful.

Please watch Dr. Charles Foster Johnson of Pastors for Texas Kids explain how he got involved in the fight for public education and why men and women of faith communities must support public schools and protect separation of church and state.

Charlie Johnson is a wonderful speaker. He is working with his peers in other states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona, and Indiana. When he finished talking, he was swarmed by people from the South and Midwest, seeking his help and advice.

You will enjoy and learn from his presentation.

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Citizenship, Civil Rights, Democracy, Funding, Justice, Religion, Separation of church and state, Supporting public schools, Texas

Jeff Bryant: The GOP Tax Bill Is a Disaster for Education

By dianeravitch
November 17, 2017 //
5

Jeff Bryant

Categories Funding, Republicans

GOP Tax Plan Offers Subsidy to Wealthy Private School Parents

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2017 //
13

The latest GOP Tax Plan offers a generous break for wealthy families that send their children to private schools, worth up to $30,000 a year in tuition.
What happened to the middle class? Forgot about them. This tax break will cost taxpayers up to $600 Million.

“That number is the potential net new tax savings, under the House tax plan, for parents who deposit a large amount of money when their kids are born. They would get that benefit by using the money for children starting private school in kindergarten and attending through high school.

“Buried in Section 1202 of the tax bill are a number of proposals to consolidate and simplify various tax breaks for education savings. Part of the section in effect would neuter something called a Coverdell account, which families have used for years to save for both private school and college….

“But then comes the big change: Elementary and high school expenses of up to $10,000 per year would become “qualified” expenses for 529 plans. Translation? You could pull $10,000 each year out of your 529 account for private school and avoid paying taxes on any previous growth. There are no income limits on who can use 529 plans, and you would be able to keep right on saving for college as well….

“Now, a quick 529 refresher. You put money in, and in 35 states you get some sort of tax break when you do so, according to Andrea Feirstein, a plan consultant. The money grows tax free, and when you withdraw it to pay for higher-education expenses, you pay no taxes, capital gains or otherwise.

“So what would it mean to add private school benefits to 529 plans? Take a wealthy family in the highest tax bracket. It has a newborn baby, and through some combination of gifts and its own savings, it opens a 529 plan with $200,000 and never deposits another dime.

“If the money grows at 6 percent annually, that family could take out the $10,000 each year, avoiding $2,380 in taxes annually. If it did that for 13 years (kindergarten through 12th grade), it would save $30,940 in taxes. Plus, according to numbers that Vanguard ran for me, it would still have enough left over after high school ($370,717) to pay for many pricey private colleges in full, as long as tuition inflation there ran no more than 3 percent annually.”

Categories Funding

D.C. Superintendent Antwan Wilson Overspent Budget for Administration in Oakland by 100%

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2017 //
14

When Kaya Henderson stepped down as chancellor of the District of Columbia school system, she was replaced by Antwan Wilson, superintendent of schools in Oakland, California.

Wilson came to Oakland in 2014 from Denver, where he was an assistant superintendent. He also graduated the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy in 2014.

He was superintendent for two-and-a-half years in Oakland when he received the invitation to take charge of D.C.

Reporter Ken Epstein of the Oakland Post reported on problems that Wilson left behind. Long before Wilson arrived, Oakland spent years in state receivership and was bailed out by the State with a loan of $100 Million. The state watches Oakland closely.

Now the District has discovered that Superintendent Wilson spent heavily on new administrative positions.

Epstein writes:

“The financial report, based on a close examination of the district’s income and expenditures, was presented by Interim Chief Financial Officer Gloria Gamblin and her staff at the school board meeting last week and at the board’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting this week.

“One significant misstep last year was the failure of what is called “position control.”

“Supt. Antwan Wilson’s administration created 75 positions, mostly in the central office, that were not accounted for in the budget and for which funds had not been allocated, said Katema Ballentine, OUSD’s financial officer of budget development
.
“That’s huge. I’ve never seen a budget number that large,” she said…

“Ballentine told board members that budget staff realized during the last months of Supt. Wilson’s administration that the district was facing a $30 million shortfall, but she and Senior Business Officer Vernon Hal were not allowed to tell the board.”

In a follow-up article, Epstein reported that Wilson overspent the budget for administrators by 100%.

“As the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) struggles to maintain financial solvency – cutting expenses and realigning spending priorities – reports are coming to light indicating that expenditures for administrators and consultants grew dramatically during the three years of Supt. Antwan Wilson’s administration and regularly exceeded the adopted budget by as much as 100 percent.

“As leader of OUSD, these are not the kind of numbers I want to see,” said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell.

“Our schools need the best leadership we can find, but we must find and keep those leaders while working within our means,” she said. “It is our duty to ensure that we are operating in as efficient and cost-effective way as possible. I am committed to putting us on the right path to fiscal stability.”

“According to one of the numerous financial reports presented Monday night to the school board’s Budget and Finance Committee, total spending for classified (non-teaching) supervisors and administrators grew by 69 percent during Supt. Wilson’s administration, July 2014 – January 2017.

“Classified spending was at $13.1 million in the final year of previous Supt. Tony Smith’s administration (2013-2014), and rose to $22.3 million in 2016-2017.

“At the same time, the district overspent its allocated budget for classified supervisors by over 100 percent in the past two school years.

“Spending for administrators and supervisors with teaching certificates grew 44 percent – from $13.9 million in 2013-2014 to $20 million last school year. Spending in that category exceeded the approved budget by $4 million in 2015-2016 and $1 million last year.

“In the category of professional and consulting services, spending grew 25 percent from $22.7 million in 2013-2014 to $28.3 million in 2016-2017.

“Last year, expenditures for consultants exceeded the budget by 32 percent.“

When interviewed by the Washington Post, Wilson said he had left Oakland with a balanced budget.

Not really.

Categories Broad Foundation, Budget Cuts, District of Columbia, Education Reform, Funding

Texas: Advice to Public Schools from State’s Most Powerful Elected Official: STARVE!

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2017 //
6

In Texas, the Lt. Governor is considered the state’s most powerful elected official. That man is Dan Patrick, a flamboyant former talk show host who hates public schools. Patrick recently spoke in Houston.

Please read this brilliant reaction by Cort McMurray, a Houston area businessman.

A snippet of a great piece:

“Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was in town this week, talking schools, school finance, and property tax reform. These are favorite topics for Patrick, who, before becoming arguably the most powerful man in state government, was a Houston media personality, best known for undergoing an on-air vasectomy during a live radio talk show. In his 2015 inaugural address, tucked between the Stetsoned hubris and the cowboy booted jingoism and the liberal quotation of Scripture, Patrick bemoaned the failure of “our inner city schools” and invoked Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech to articulate a dream of his own, a “dream of the day every child gets a quality education so they can break the binds of poverty and live the Texas and American dream.”

“It was a “conversation” in which a middle-aged white man was having a “conversation” in a room filled with middle-aged white men and women, talking about “people in the inner city.” Mr. Patrick likes to talk about the “inner city.” It’s a phrase he uses often. He talks about “inner city” schools, which are invariably “failing,” and inner city residents, who are “losing their homes” because they can’t afford to pay the gosh-darn property taxes: It’s not the lousy economy or the drugs and gangs or the relentless tectonic grind of decades of tone deaf public policy that’s ruining the places where the poor folk live. It’s property taxes.

“Patrick speaks about “the inner city” with the smooth confidence of a man who’s never experienced the challenge but knows the precise solution. He’s the loudmouthed guy at the end of the bar, explaining how to hit a Clayton Kershaw slider. He’s the clueless uncle, giving an expectant niece his sure-fire, drug-free tips for managing pain during childbirth. He’s the eternal talk show host, all honeyed words and callus-free hands.

“What Patrick wants has little to do with bringing hope or light to the shadowy spots in our benighted inner cities. What Patrick wants is the evisceration of the Texas public school system, replaced with a quasi-public collection of “charter schools.”

“Property taxes are the primary means of financing public education in the state. Earlier this year, Education Week, a highly respected newspaper, published Quality Counts, its 20th annual analysis of performance in U.S. schools. Texas ranked 42nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in student performance, 42nd in “student chances for [post-high school] success,” and 45th in quality of school funding.

“Patrick’s solution to a stretched, struggling, woefully underfunded system? Cut the funding. Starve the schools. Starve them to death.“

The writer doesn’t mention Patrick’s passion for vouchers, which he has promoted for years. The rural districts have allied with urban districts to block them.

You can quote research or you can look at Michigan, where charter schools have proliferated for many years. On national tests, Michigan used to be in the middle of the pack. Now it has fallen to the bottom. Or D.C., one of the lowest performing districts in the nation, which has had charters and vouchers since 2004.

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

National Superintendents Roundtable: How the GOP Tax Proposal Would Affect Public Education

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2017 //
15

A memo from James Harvey, CEO of the National Superintendents Roundtable:

The House GOP unveiled a 429-page tax reform bill late this week that lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, raised the standard deduction, and sought to keep lost revenue down to $1.5 trillion by eliminating dozens of deductions now available in the existing tax code. Several press accounts document the profound impact these changes will have on students, families, and educational institutions. Here’s what’s on the chopping block:

Existing Tax Code

Deduction for interest on student loans
Eliminate

Deduction for college tuition
Eliminate

Business deduction for employees’ tuition
Eliminate

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts*
Eliminate

Section 529 college savings accounts*
Add K-12 private schools

$250 teacher deduction for supplies
Eliminate

Deduction for state sales taxes**
Eliminate

Deduction for state/local income taxes**
Eliminate

Deduction for property taxes**
Cap at $10,000

* Coverdell Education Savings Accounts are tax-free accounts for middle- and lower-income families to pay up to $2,000 for qualified education costs, including college costs and some private K-12 expenses. Although eliminating this vehicle, the House GOP package simultaneously extends the existing Section 529 college savings program to permit all parents, no matter how wealthy, to set aside up to $10,000 tax-free for K-12 private schools.

** These income sources at the local level are the foundation of school funding. Limitations on these features will make passage of school levies and bonds more difficult, as voters realize their state and local taxes can no longer be used to off-set their federal tax liabilities and that they will be taxed on taxes already paid.

Categories Funding, Republicans

Carol Burris: Something Mike Petrilli And I Agree On

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2017 //
13

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education and its Action Fund, writes:

I rarely agree with Fordham’s Mike Petrilli, but this week he nailed the Republican tax reform plan with these two tweets:

Every friend of public education must spring to action this week to oppose the House tax reform bill. That bill is a clever attempt to create a backdoor voucher, and at the same time undermine funding for public schools.

 

You cannot let this one pass. Act now. Send our NPE Action email to your House member. But that is not enough. Post the link on your Facebook page, send it by email,

pick up the phone and call your representative.

 

This bill is part of the master plan to destroy public education.

 

Use this link to send your email, and then share it.

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Funding

GOP Tax Plan Will Hurt Teachers and Public Education

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2017 //
21

In Education Week, Allyson Klein and Andrew Ujifusa report that the GOP tax proposal will have negative effects on funding for public schools.

“The Republicans’ much-anticipated legislation to change the federal tax system includes a victory for school choice advocates: It would allow families to use up to $10,000 in savings from 529 college savings plans for K-12 expenses, including private school tuition.

“Overall, the bill released Thursday would slash corporate and some individual tax rates, offsetting the cost by nixing other deductions. That includes a $250 deduction that teachers can use to cover classroom expenses, such as books, art supplies, and rewards for students. The bill would also eliminate the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, a step advocates warn could pinch K-12 spending at the district and state level. More on that below.

“And the legislation would put an end to the so-called Coverdell Accounts, tax-free accounts which families currently can use to cover up to $2,000 of K-12 costs, including private school tuition, in favor of the 529 change. Families could also use 529s to cover the cost of apprenticeships and could open an account when a child is “in utero” or “unborn.” We previewed the possibility of a 529 benefit for K-12 back in August. It has strong support from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank…

The inclusion of 529 plans for K-12 in the tax package represents the first tangible win in the Trump era for school choice, a huge priority for DeVos.

But a tax credit for donations to fund private school scholarships, which some speculated would be a part of changes to the federal tax code, does not appear to be in the bill. Congress has also rejected the administration’s budget proposals to create a federal voucher program.”

The reduction in the deductibility of state and local taxes will hurt public school funding by reducing revenues.

“Teachers’ unions are unhappy about the elimination of the state and local tax deductions—but also upset about the decision to scrap the tax deduction to help teachers furnish their classrooms. During the 2012-13 academic year, teachers spent a total of $1.6 billion out of their own pockets for classroom expenses, according to a survey by the National School Supply and Equipment Association. A separate survey conducted during the 2015-16 school year found that each teacher spent $600 on average of his or her own money on those supplies and materials every year.”

SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE GOP TAX PLAN! IT TAKES AWAY THE SMALL DEDUCTION THAT TEACHERS USE TO COVER THE COST OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES THAT THEY PAY FOR, WHILE ENABLING WEALTHY FAMILIES TO CLAIM TAX CREDITS FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION.

The Network for Public Education is encouraging everyone to write to their members of Congress to vote against this unfair and unwise tax plan. It will hurt public schools and aid wealthy families.

Categories Funding, Privatization, Republicans, Teachers
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