Government Schools Shrinking

The lamestream media told you:

Schools Preparing For Worst-Case Budget Scenario -- Schools nationwide are planning for staff and program cuts as they prepare to absorb millions of dollars in lost education funding, news outlets are reporting in communities everywhere. State budget cuts, a slow economy, decreased tax revenue and especially funding-cuts due to declining enrollment are hurting schools.


The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Government schools are finally seeing declining enrollments, bringing huge cost savings to beleaguered taxpayers, and reducing the bloat that has plagued tax-funded schools for decades.

Schools receive huge cash supplements for every student attending each day, so they are hard pressed to keep the head count up, even resorting at times to falsified attendance records. When students transfer to private schools, charter schools, parochial schools, home schooling and other options, taxpayers save the enormous costs, what the "news" media and the schools call "lost funding."

As government-run schools lose students to better alternatives, the schools can reduce staff, cut expenses, and limit the burden on taxpayers, while better teachers can migrate to the private sector with their students and truly earn their keep. The idea that central government authorities should have responsibility for educating the nation's youth cannot be found in the U.S. Constitution, where the word "education" itself is absent.

Comments

[ParentX]

"Government Run Schools"...LOL...that's pretty funny.

Since you seem to be very familiar with gun law, you probably have perused the AZ Constitution as well. Article 11, Section 10 starts by addressing how we should be funding education from state land proceeds. It then goes on to say:
"...In addition to such income the legislature shall make such appropriations, to be met by taxation, as shall insure the proper maintenance of all state educational institutions, and shall make such special appropriations as shall provide for their development and improvement."

Arizona's per pupil funding has been on the decline for about 20 years. We sure aren't providing for the 'development and improvement' of our public schools by any stretch of the imagination. Those "huge cash supplements" you refer to are known in other circles as "operating costs" -- silly stuff like teacher salaries, school building operations, equipment and supplies. "Huge" ain't exactly the right adjective in AZ either...by all accounts we're ranked at the bottom of the nation for our public school expenditures.

Also, despite the fact that AZ is widely recognized as a 'school choice' state, public school enrollment has been increasing along with the growth in our state. 93% of AZ families send their kids to public schools. While total enrollment will probably decline as our growth (population and economic) slows, private school enrollment also falters in a bad economy.

All of the schools in my kid's district are ranked as 'excelling'. Even if you decided to dismantle these schools for "better alternatives" (though I don't know what this would be); it would take YEARS to build enough private schools to house the 4,500+ kids. Plus you'd have to entice private entities to provide services for the kids with disabilities, etc.

And as for that US Constitution...the word "education" is absent, but so is "God" and "marriage" - should we disregard these other core American ideals as well??

[Dave R]

ParentX:

Arizona's constitution apparently makes the quaint and optimistic assumption that "development and improvement" of state educational institutions will have some bearing on quality of education. In fact there's no link between results and per-pupil expenditures in public schools at a national level, and some of the worst performance comes in the highest-spending districts. Washington, DC is the most famous example of this, with the highest funding and the worst results.

As far as public schools being underfunded, their combined operating and capital costs are almost always higher than private and parochial schools that out-perform them. Money is not the deficiency. Modern glass and brick school construction, or computers for every child, or higher pay for unionized teachers, or any other "problem" that can be fixed with money will not address the structural deficiencies in a taxpayer-funded, union-staffed, education school-indcotrinated monopoly education system. (It's a shame anti-trust laws don't apply to the government, or we'd have had better education results decades ago.)

[ParentX]

Dave - unfortunately you are repeating some very common myths about public education.
Myth Numero Uno: public school costs are "almost always higher than private and parochial schools that outperform them". (Actually, that is two myths in one, but we'll cover them both.)

My kid's public school district is highly ranked by any standard. ALL of the schools are ranked 'excelling' by the Dept of Ed, the high school is nationally recognized every year, and we have a high number of National Merit Scholars, chess/robotics/athletics champions, etc. Test scores and graduation rates are exceptional and rank well above average.
Total per-pupil expenditure = $7,042...but that was before the cuts this year. Now we are down around $6,820/student.

Private school tuition in our area/non parochial schools:
St. Gregory's (6-12) $14,300-$15,300
Greenfields Country Day (K-12) $9,500-$14,200
Castlehill Day (Pre-K-5) $4,000-$8,400
Kino School (K-12) $6,975-$7,380

Parochial Schools CAN charge a lot less in tuition, given that they usually make use of church property and operational expenditures (utilities, insurance, etc.). *Plus* they are supported by congregational funding and a $1,000 tax credit provided by the state:
Tucson Hebrew Academy (K-8) $8,990-$10,990
Salpointe Catholic High (9-12) $6,430-$7,420
Desert Christian $4,840(Kinder)-$7,400(9-12)

Reality check - running a school costs money. Staff salaries, air conditioning, insurance, custodial services, desks/tables/chairs, books cost a whole bunch of money...and that's before you even get to computers (which almost all schools in AZ have to fundraise/float local bonds for separately) or any of those extras that actually help to make our state - and citizens - competitive in today's world.

What is "quaint and optimistic" is that some people still believe that our schools can be run on goodwill and chalk alone.

I am a stringent fiscal conservative, and you can bet your sweet bippee that the last thing I'd cut in MY company right now is our training & development. We need to retain our best people and ensure that they have the skills they need to carry us through this tough economy. By devaluing education to the lowest point in the US, we are losing our best teachers and signaling to top executives that we don't invest in our workforce. Arizona's '49th out of 50th' ranking came up in an international Science & Medicine journal last week - the subheading referred to our legislature's "Anti Education Stance". If you think that is going to draw investment and budding entrepreneurs to our state - think again.