Voice For Liberty

Tag: Wichita and Kansas schools

  • Wichita school district discusses unspent fund balances

    Last week the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district provided another example of the attitude of the board towards those who have opinions that are not aligned with the policies of the district and public school spending advocates.

    In this example it was Dave Trabert who appeared to speak to the board. Trabert is president of Kansas Policy Institute. His purpose was to present to the board some options the district has, based on a new state law, for managing its finances so that it could proceed without laying off teachers or eliminating programs.

    Board president Connie Dietz made sure the speakers were aware there is a three minute time limit — now there is a timer on the display screens — and that the speakers would be excused after that time.

    Trabert told the board that based on new state law, the Wichita school district has $16.4 million available for it to use without restriction. These are funds that the district has in accounts, but did not spend in previous years. “The district can, if it chooses, use this option to avoid teacher layoffs and other program cuts,” Trabert said.

    Trabert recognized that the district needs some balances to help manage cash flow. He also mentioned the fact that school districts and school spending supporters don’t address: “The fact that these balances have increased significantly over the years, as some revenues were not spent, shows that the district has the ability to use this option if it chooses, and still have a lot of cash left over.”

    He also told the board that many school districts in Kansas are able to operate with lower ratios of cash balances, relative to their operating expenses, than the Wichita district does.

    Board member Lynn Rogers questioned Trabert, asking him how he felt about the federal government spending Social Security trust funds on things other than Social Security benefits. Trabert asked how that applied to the issue at hand.

    Rogers said the district’s fund balances are a similar concept, and that if the district spends fund balances on something other than originally intended, it’s like the government misapplying Social Security trust funds. But the two concepts are distinguishable.

    The idea behind the Social Security Trust Fund is that payroll taxes are collected from workers, and are then invested to earn interest over a long period of time in order to pay future benefits to retirees.

    The district’s funds, with the possible exception of a fund like capital improvement or textbooks, are not intended as long-term investment vehicles. Rather, they are designed to meet short-term needs and to manage cash flow.

    Despite the huge difference in the nature of the school funds and the Social Security Trust Fund, Rogers pressed Trabert to answer his question, trying to draw a comparison between the district’s health care fund and Social Security. But again, the comparison is not valid. The district’s self-insurance health care fund is for the anticipated costs of health care for the current year. It is not a long-term savings plan, as Social Security is intended to be.

    We saw recently how the Wichita school district treated someone who made a proposal that lied outside the school spending orthodoxy. Here again we see similar treatment: First, the speaker is sternly reminded of the short time limit. This is, remember, at school board meetings where vast expanses of time are wasted on “feel-good” measures that do nothing to advance public policy, or education, for that matter.

    After the speaker finishes, board members may then lecture the speaker, often in an attempt to divert attention away from the issues the speaker raised. At least in this meeting the board member gave the speaker a chance to respond. That may not happen again, as Rogers made nonsensical arguments in his attempt to back the speaker into a corner and avoid addressing the substance of the issue at hand.

    The issue of the fund balances, while important, is not the most serious issue facing Wichita and Kansas schools. Most people would be surprised — and shocked — to learn that only 26 percent of Kansas students that take the ACT test are ready for college-level coursework in all four areas that ACT considers. (See Most Kansas students not ready for college.) While this result was slightly better than the national average, it means that three-fourths of Kansas high school graduates need to take one or more remedial college courses.

    It is important that citizens understand the issue of the unspent fund balances. It’s also important that they are aware of the refusal of school districts and school spending advocates to deal forthrightly with the public on this issue. It provides insight into the nature of our public schools, and why reform is so difficult.

    The written material that Trabert presented to the board may be found at Unencumbered Carryover Cash Balance Facts (According to the Kansas Dept. of Education, school district budget documents, Kansas Legislative Research Department and basic accounting principles). For more articles on the fund balances, click on Kansas school fund balances.

  • Wichita school fund balances again an issue

    The issue of school fund balances in Wichita and Kansas is a serious issue that deserves discussion. At the same time, we need to make sure we don’t lose sight of Kansas school issues that are even more important. But school officials need to be held accountable for their deception of the public, most notably through straw man arguments.

    When Dr. Walt Chappell, an elected member of the Kansas State Board of Education, used a slot on the public agenda to address the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, his shabby treatment by the board was one issue. But the more important issue is the substance of Chappell’s remarks, and the reaction by school district officials.

    Chappell asked the board to use money socked away in various fund balances to balance the budget. In his written remarks, he wrote: “The Wichita school board does not need to lay off teachers, raise property taxes or cut instructional programs to balance next year’s budget.”

    The Wichita school district, like many across the state, has unused balances in a variety of funds. Some of these funds, by law, must be used only for certain purposes. But this year the Kansas Legislature passed a law that gives school districts greater flexibility in using these fund balances.

    Even through the unused fund balances have been restricted to certain uses, school districts have always been able to “spend” them by simply not transferring so much to the funds. But there’s been an incentive to make transfers to these funds, as once the money is in certain funds, school districts can hoard it.

    In his response to Chappell, and also in a recent letter to the Wichita Eagle, board member Lynn Rogers tried to explain why these fund balances are not the solution that Chappell and others say they are. His primary argument is that fund balances are needed for cash management purposes. An example: “Special education is a clear example of why having a fund balance is good business practice. We ended the past fiscal year with $12.5 million in the special education fund. Special education salaries are about $12.1 million between July 1 and the next state aid payment received in October.”

    Everyone can understand that. The need for fund balances to manage cashflow is legitimate and not part of the argument of those who advocate using fund balances for other purposes. For Rogers to use this as part of his argument is an example of a straw man argument. In using this fallacy, Rogers replaces his opponent’s argument with a “superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition.” Then he refutes it. The appearance, if you’re not watching carefully, is that Rogers has refuted the original argument. But he hasn’t.

    What Rogers and other school spending advocates don’t talk about is the rise in the fund balances over years. In a letter to the Wichita Eagle George Pearson wrote that Rogers provided “accurate but incomplete information” on the school fund balances. Pearson explained: “USD 259 had $45 million in those funds at the beginning of this fiscal year. Five years ago, those balances were $31 million. The buildup in those balances comes from state and local tax dollars received in prior years that haven’t been spent. SB 111 authorizes USD 259 to use about $16 million in any manner the district chooses — ironically, about the same amount it collected but didn’t spend over the past five years.”

    This is what the arguments of Rogers and the school spending lobby don’t explain: Why do the fund balances rise year after year, and rise faster than the overall level of school spending? The only explanation is that money is added to the funds faster than it is spent, year after year. Schools have not spent all the money we’ve sent them — despite their constant poor-mouthing.

    This issue, while important, is not the most serious issue facing Wichita and Kansas schools. For example, most people would be surprised — and shocked — to learn that only 26 percent of Kansas students that take the ACT test are ready for college-level coursework in all four areas that ACT considers. (See Most Kansas students not ready for college.) While this result was slightly better than the national average, it means that three-fourths of Kansas high school graduates need to take one or more remedial college courses.

    It is important that citizens understand the issue of the unspent fund balances. It’s also important that they are aware of the refusal of school districts and school spending advocates to deal forthrightly with the public on this issue. It provides insight into the nature of our public schools, and why reform is so difficult.

    For more articles on the fund balances, click on Kansas school fund balances. Chappell’s written remarks are below (use the toolbar to zoom or for a full-screen view), and video of his appearance before the Wichita school board follows that.

    Wichita, Kansas (USD 259) School Budget Recommendations

  • Wichita school board: critics not welcome

    A recent meeting of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, provided insight as to the insularity of the board members and district staff, and as to how little meaningful discussion or debate takes place at board meetings.

    At the June 20th meeting, Dr. Walt Chappell, an elected member of the Kansas State Board of Education, used a slot on the public agenda to address the board about the upcoming budget. Chappell received a chilly reception — to say the least — from board president Connie Dietz. Chappell has been outspoken in his criticism of the way the state spends money on schools. Chappell knows, as do other critics of the Kansas school education bureaucracy, that if you’re not a team player, you’re going to suffer abuse from the education bureaucracy and its supporters.

    Regardless of the validity of Chappell’s remarks to the board — more on that in another article — the attitude of Dietz is worse than simply being rude. It is shutting up your critics simply because you control the gavel. It is boorish and bullying behavior. It is contrary to good government.

    The balance of power at meetings like these is all in favor of the board. Citizens, even elected officials like Chappell, may speak for a short period of time. Then board members may speak at length without fear of being held accountable for their remarks, because if the citizen were to speak even one word out of turn, the board would shut them up.

    This is at a school district where much board meeting time is devoted to “feel good” measures such as the lengthy goodbye to departing board member Kevass Harding at the same meeting. That had nothing to do with public policy. It was constructive in no way except to board members, district staff, and Harding’s ego. By the way, he used the opportunity and time to announce his future political ambitions.

    But when citizens and officials like Chappell speak — even though they may speak about important and weighty matters of policy — their time is strictly regulated. If they disagree with school district orthodoxy they may be scolded and lectured with no chance to defend themselves or rebut false statements and nonsensical arguments from board members or district staff. There is nothing resembling discussion or debate except among board members and district staff — all who drink from the same ideological fountain.

    It’s not the first time this has happened to Chappell at the Wichita school board. Two years ago a similar incident took place. In my coverage, I wrote: “Certainly these three board members were dismissive of Chappell and his input. This is characteristic of this board and the entire district. They’re willing to accept citizen input when citizens agree with them. Otherwise, watch out.”

    The district, however, believes there is debate. In a recent letter to the Wichita Eagle, board member Lynn Rogers claimed that budget decisions “are being debated heavily.”

    The debate, however, is not inclusive or fruitful. Few citizens are even remotely aware of the level of school spending, whether spending is going up or down, and whether spending is related to student achievement. Last year the Kansas Policy Institute commissioned a public opinion survey that revealed just how uninformed and misinformed the citizens of Kansas are on school spending matters. National surveys have produced similar findings.

    Instead, the debates about policies and budgets take place largely among those who benefit from school spending and increases. And, of course, in the one-sided lectures from the school board bench. Rogers called Chappell’s facts “misleading” despite the fact that the supporting documentation comes from the district itself and the state department of education.

    This is not the first time that members like Rogers have revealed just how out of touch they are with the concerns of citizens and how misinformed they can be. For example, he told me during a meeting that responding to requests for information is a burden that prevents the district from educating kids.

    In another instance, Rogers said “I know there are kids from many Catholic schools that have come to public schools when the Catholic schools have kicked them out.” It turns out that the Wichita Catholic schools expel very few students, less than five per year on average.

    Diversity? It’s a sought-after goal of the district. In fact, the district has a committee with the title “Diversity, Equity and Accountability Committee.” But diversity in thought and opinion must not be part of what’s desired. The belligerent and disrespectful behavior of board members, particularly president Connie Dietz, is a deterrent to parents, teachers, students, and citizens who want to be involved and have their voices heard. That is, unless they agree with and praise the board and district.

    Without the involvement of everyone, the board and district make decisions without all relevant facts and input, and often with incorrect information about many vitally important matters. That, I believe, is they way they like it.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday July 5, 2011

    Kansas can choose its future path. Kansas has a choice to make, writes Dave Trabert, President of Kansas Policy Institute: “‘Rich States, Poor States’ is loaded with good policy advice but perhaps the greatest takeaway is that economic prosperity is a matter of choice. Some states choose to create an environment that encourages economic activity; others choose to put a higher value on government growth, which discourages job creation.” The choice we have to make is based on Kansas’ middle-of-the-road ranking in Rich States, Poor States: The ALEC-Laffer Economic Competitiveness Index, a new edition of which was recently released. It is, writes Trabert: “We can either choose to continue the tax-and-spend mentality that continues to drive jobs away or we can choose to become prosperous.” More is at Rich State or Poor State — It’s a Matter of Choice . … Trabert will be speaking in Wichita on this topic this Friday, see the next item.

    Kansas budget to be topic. This Friday’s meeting (July 8th) of the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Dave Trabert, President of Kansas Policy Institute, speaking on the topic “How Kansas ranks in the Rich States, Poor States Economic Competitive Index, and how our state’s ranking can be improved by stabilizing the Kansas budget.” The public is welcome and encouraged to attend Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club. … Upcoming speakers: On July 15, Jon Hauxwell, MD, speaking on “Medicinal Cannabis.” On July 22, U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo of Wichita on “An update from Washington.” On July 29, Dennis Taylor, Secretary, Kansas Department of Administration and “The Repealer” on “An Overview of the Office of the Repealer.”

    Year of school choice. The Wall Street Journal, in a Review and Outlook piece, notes the progress made throughout the country in advancing greater freedom for parents in educational opportunities for the children. Of particular note is expansion of existing programs in Milwaukee and Indiana. … Schools choice is important, writes the Journal, but alone is not sufficient: “Choice by itself won’t lift U.S. K-12 education to where it needs to be. Eliminating teacher tenure and measuring teachers against student performance are also critical. Standards must be higher than they are. But choice is essential to driving reform because it erodes the union-dominated monopoly that assigns children to schools based on where they live. Unions defend the monopoly to protect jobs for their members, but education should above all serve students and the larger goal of a society in which everyone has an opportunity to prosper.” … In Kansas, reform measures such as these are rarely mentioned, as the state’s education establishment is content with keeping inner-city and disadvantaged kids in poor schools. While Kansas has some good schools, these are largely located in well-to-do suburbs in Johnson County and surrounding Wichita. Families with money, therefore, have opportunities for school choice (of a sort). Poor families don’t have this choice. … In Kansas, tinkering with the teacher tenure formula is all that has been accomplished this year regarding school reform. This is in a state that ranks very low among the states in policies relating to teacher effectiveness, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality. … Kansas Governor Sam Brownback campaigned with an education platform, but it contained mostly weak measures that appeared to be designed by the education establishment. So far Brownback has not come forth with proposals for meaningful reform of schools in Kansas.

    How much does a stimulus job cost? According to the Council of Economic Advisors, all appointed by President Barack Obama, $278,000. If that’s not bad enough, analysis from The Weekly Standard finds that now, the stimulus program is working in reverse: “In other words, over the past six months, the economy would have added or saved more jobs without the ‘stimulus’ than it has with it. In comparison to how things would otherwise have been, the ‘stimulus’ has been working in reverse over the past six months, causing the economy to shed jobs.” Why might the stimulus not be working? Borrowing the money and then “spending it mostly on Democratic constituencies” is to blame, writes Jeffrey H. Anderson.

    More ‘Economics in One Lesson.’ Next Monday (July 11th) Americans For Prosperity Foundation is sponsoring a continuation of the DVD presentation of videos based on Henry Hazlitt’s classic work Economics in One Lesson. The event is Monday from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Lionel D. Alford Library located at 3447 S. Meridian in Wichita. The library is just north of the I-235 exit on Meridian. The event’s sponsor is Americans for Prosperity, Kansas. For more information on this event contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.

  • Parents and teachers deceived about Kansas school funding

    By Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute.

    “Deceived” is a strong word but there’s no polite way to describe the way parents and teachers are being misled about the nature of school funding in Kansas. Some school boards, administrators, media and even some legislators are saying that state support of public schools is at 1992 levels; others are just saying state aid is declining next year. None of that is true.

    State support is increasing by $86 million next year, and that’s on top of a $261 million increase this year. Kansas Legislative Research reports that state spending on public schools was $2.710 billion last year; this year it is $2.971 billion and next year’s budget is $3.057 billion. And by the way, next year’s spending will be more than twice what it was in 1992.

    Some pieces of state funding are slightly declining next year because others are growing more than the overall funding increase. According to the school finance formula, amounts required for Special Education, pension payments and the state’s portion of local bond payments are deducted from total aid; the remaining balance is then distributed according to the formula on a weighted per-pupil basis. Since the increases in those “off the top” items are greater than the $86 million increase in total state aid, a reduction in base state aid was necessary. Still, total aid from state, federal and local sources will still be about $12,000 per pupil next year, which would be a 5 percent reduction since FY 2009. (Federal aid is returning to pre-stimulus levels but local aid should be slightly higher.)

    This minor reduction over the last three years is caused by the worst recession this state has seen in decades. We’ve lost over 70,000 private sector jobs in the last three years and average annual employment in 2010 was less than in 1998. Based on the change in income tax receipts, corporate earnings plummeted 49 percent between 2007 and 2010. The resources to insulate public schools from economic reality simply aren’t available.

    Schools have a number of alternatives to avoid changes that impact classrooms. Inflation increased 10.4 percent between 2005 and 2010 but per-pupil operating costs outside the classroom jumped 17.7 percent. That’s $112 million above inflation.

    Also, most districts didn’t spend all of the revenue they received over the last five years; cash reserves in current operating funds (not counting capital and bond payments) increased by $317 million and most of that money is state and local tax dollars that were intended to operate schools. Many districts claimed they couldn’t use those unspent aid dollars because some of it was restricted.

    But there’s no question now that they can spend the money. A new law permits the transfer of unencumbered carryover cash balances from a group of twelve funds to be used for any operating purpose. There are no restrictions on how the money can be used and most districts have three or four times the amount needed to offset the change in base state aid per pupil.

    Parents and teachers deserve the truth. State support of public schools is rising next year and districts have options to avoid direct classroom impacts. We hope they choose to do so.

    Dave Trabert is president of the Kansas Policy Institute.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday June 6, 2011

    Wichita school superintendent to speak. This Friday’s meeting (June 10) of the Wichita Pachyderm Club features John Allison, Superintendent of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, on “An update from USD 259.” The public is welcome and encouraged to attend Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club. … Upcoming speakers: On June 17, The Honorable Lawton R. Nuss, Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice on “The State of the Kansas Courts.” On June 24, Jim Mason, Naturalist at the Great Plains Nature Center will have a presentation and book signing. Mason is author of Wichita’s Riverside Parks, published in April 2011. On July 1, Jay M. Price, Director of the Public History Program at Wichita State University, speaking on “Classes of Values in Kansas History.” On July 8, Dave Trabert, President, Kansas Policy Institute, on “Stabilizing the Kansas Budget.”

    TIF in California and Kansas. In California’s Secret Government: Redevelopment agencies blight the Golden State Steven Greenhut discusses Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) in California, which is the way that state implements tax increment financing (TIF). In California RDAs are separate agencies with their own boards. Fortunately, Kansas TIF law doesn’t create these separate agencies. But we have TIF and its wild claims. Greenhut cites the claims of RDA boosters in California: “… agencies explicitly advance various goals beyond blight removal, claiming to boost economic development, provide affordable housing, reenergize downtowns, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.” But: “Do these lofty growth claims hold water? Redevelopment officials arrive at them by taking credit for every new job and every new economic activity in a redevelopment area. But that isn’t a plausible boast. Crunching the numbers, [Michael] Dardia found that after correcting for local real-estate trends, ‘redevelopment projects do not increase property values by enough to account for the tax increment revenues they receive. Overall, the agencies stimulated enough growth to cover just above half of those tax revenues. The rest resulted from local trends.’” In the follow-up article Proving the Redevelopment Rule: Evidence from Southern California that RDAs don’t work Greenhut discusses eminent domain, or the threat of it. While Kansas has an eminent domain law that seemingly provides protection to property owners who don’t want to sell, the threat of its use is still available. Greenhut cites an attorney who fights these battles, noting “most cities don’t need to use eminent domain, any more than most muggers need to use the handgun pointed at their victims’ heads. Brandishing it usually is enough to convince an owner to give in.” The Wichita City Council, when considering TIF districts and other special tax districts, has been asked to explicitly disavow the use of eminent domain so that this threat is no longer available. But the mayor and council members will not extend that protection to citizens.

    More ‘Economics in One Lesson.’ Next Monday (June 13) Americans For Prosperity Foundation is sponsoring a continuation of the DVD presentation of videos based on Henry Hazlitt’s classic work Economics in One Lesson. The event is Monday (June 13) at 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Lionel D. Alford Library located at 3447 S. Meridian in Wichita. The library is just north of the I-235 exit on Meridian. The event’s sponsor is Americans for Prosperity, Kansas. For more information on this event contact John Todd at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.

    ‘Running on Empty’ tour in Kansas. This week Americans for Prosperity Foundation is bringing the Running on Empty tour to Topeka (Thursday June 9th) and Kansas City (Friday June 10th). AFP writes: “Since President Obama took office, gas prices have nearly doubled. The administration refuses to develop American energy sources … American energy sources that could help gas prices, electricity prices, and food prices come down. Americans are running on empty and the administration needs to hear how regulations and restriction to domestic resources are affecting working families who rely on affordable energy to commute to work, go to school activities and shop for family groceries. Join us on the Running on Empty Tour to learn what executive actions the Administration can take to bring down fuel costs and bring stability to the market and send them your gas bill!” For more information on these two area events, click on National Running on Empty Tour to Stop in Topeka & Kansas City.

    MRCTV announced. Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog organization and think tank, has announced MRCTV, a video site. In its announcement, MRC wrote: “Many Conservatives have long felt that YouTube has two sets of rules, one for conservative videos and one for everyone else. Videos that are critical of liberals or present a conservative point of view are often mysteriously removed from YouTube. This is frustrating for everyone, but especially for conservative websites that rely on videos to get their message across. ”

    Kansas census data added. The Institute for Policy & Social Research at KU has added 2010 U.S. Census data. Besides this, the institute holds much other data and resources. Click on Kansas Data.

    Markets: exploitation or empowerment? Do markets lead to a centralization of political and economic power, or do markets decentralize and disseminate wealth? In an eight-minute video from LearnLiberty.org, a project of Institute for Humane Studies, Antony Davies presents evidence and concludes that markets and free trade empower individuals rather than exploit them.

  • Kansas needs truth about schools

    A recent editorial by Kansas Commissioner of Education Diane M. DeBacker contains several themes of self-congratulation that require a second look. Her article is Thank teachers for hard work, dedication as printed in the opinion section of The Wichita Eagle.

    Perhaps the most harmful of Dr. DeBacker’s statements is her claim of rising student achievement: “One of the remarkable stories in Kansas education is student achievement. For 10 years straight, Kansas public school students have shown improvement on state reading and math assessments.” A look at the record, however, should temper our enthusiasm.

    It’s true that performance on the assessments that are under the control of Kansas are rising, as shown in the accompanying chart that shows the composite score for math and reading in grades four and eight. (Scores before 2006 are not directly comparable, as the state moved to a new assessment then.)

    Kansas test scores and NAEP scoresComposite scores for grades 4 and 8 reading and math for Kansas state tests and for Kansas students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

    But scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Kansas students don’t reflect the same trend. Scores on this test, which is given every two years, aren’t rising like the Kansas-controlled test scores.

    This is not new news to the education establishment in Kansas, as reported in New Kansas test scores not good news and elsewhere. Dr. DeBacker would do Kansans a service by explaining the difference in trends between the two series of test scores. Not to mention the fact that the Kansas tests report that over 80 percent of Kansas students score at a level deemed “at or above standard.” On the federal NAEP test, the corresponding numbers are around 40 percent deemed to be “proficient.” That’s quite a difference in standards.

    In her op-ed, DeBacker also praised Kansas schools for the proportion of students taking the ACT college entrance exam and for the good scores they received. What she left out was the fact that only 26 percent of Kansas students that take the ACT test are ready for college-level coursework in all four areas that ACT considers. (See Most Kansas students not ready for college.) While this result was slightly better than the national average, it means that three-fourths of Kansas high school graduates need to take one or more remedial college courses.

    In introducing her article, DeBacker mentioned “a growing movement that questions the value of public education.” We as a state would do better if the public school establishment, which she heads, would honestly and truthfully report the condition of Kansas education — the good and the bad.

  • In Kansas, school choice programs could help the most needy students achieve

    While Kansas schools perform well in comparison to other states, there is much room for improvement, as the country as a whole does not do well in teaching students to their full potential. School choice programs, either through vouchers or tax credit scholarships, would help Kansas students do even better, and would help close the gap between low-performing students and the rest.

    Last week Kansas Policy Institute and The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice held a press conference discussing school choice and other school reform measures. KPI and FFEC recently launched the “Why Not Kansas” initiative to educate Kansans on the need to reform the state’s K-12 educational system to allow Kansas schools to continue to improve. Due to travel problems, the FFEC representative was not able to attend.

    One of the insights Dave Trabert, KPI President, told the audience is that since rapidly increasing spending hasn’t helped student performance, cutting spending shouldn’t hurt it. Total school funding across Kansas declined 2.6 percent for the 2009 — 2010 school year, and will probably decline by a smaller amount this year and the next.

    Kansas test scores and spendingKansas school spending and NAEP test scores. Since large increases in spending haven’t improved student achievement, smaller cuts should not harm it, says Dave Trabert of Kansas Policy Institute.

    “It maybe isn’t great that we haven’t seen tremendous improvement, but especially because we’re concerned with school finance and how it will impact funding, this is really good news. If we’ve put that much more money — $2.5 billion more into our school system since 1998 — and we haven’t changed the numbers, then we shouldn’t be concerned. We have a problem we have to deal with, but money clearly isn’t the answer. Thank goodness it isn’t, because citizens don’t have billions more to put into this problem.”

    Trabert said there are alternatives with a proven record of raising achievement. He used Florida as an example, noting that state started a series of reforms in 1998. School choice was one of Florida’s earliest reform measures, and one that the “Kansas education industry” consistently opposes.

    School choice implemented through vouchers is one program Florida used. A voucher is a payment from the state made to a school — usually a private school — where a parent chooses to send a child. Today, Florida has a variety of school choice programs focused mostly on children from low income families and special needs children. School choice through tax credit scholarships are also used in Florida. Kansas has neither program.

    Charter schools are also not available in Kansas on a widespread basis. Charter schools are publicly funded, but operate more independently, usually with less regulation. Generally the teachers do not belong to the teachers union.

    In Kansas, the local school district is the only authorizer of charter schools. “Imagine, if you will, if Spangles had to get permission from McDonald’s to open restaurants. We wouldn’t have Spangles today if that was the case.”

    While there are many successful charter schools, Trabert said there are examples of private schools and charter schools that have not worked well. As these schools don’t have a ready market of students forced to attend them by reason of geography, the bad examples usually close.

    One of the benefits of schools choice is the competition it provides. Public schools do better when faced with competition from school choice, Trabert said. Public schools respond to competition and get better, as they don’t want to lose students.

    Another benefit is — perhaps paradoxically — funding, on a per-pupil basis, goes up for public schools: “One of the knocks against school choice is that it would drive money away from school districts, and how could they afford that? In every state I’ve looked at where they have school choice programs, the money that is allowed to follow the student, whether to a charter school or a private school, is set at or below the state aid per pupil. In fact, in a lot of states they’re looking at school choice as a way to reduce costs.”

    School choice and other reforms have helped Florida close the achievement gap, with low-income and minority students making large gains.

    Trabert also said that school choice programs especially benefit low income children. “We have a lot of kids in the state and around the country whose education really depends on how much their parents make. That’s wrong. We shouldn’t accept that.”

    A question from the audience asked why Trabert focused on school choice in Florida, when that state has implemented many reforms, such as merit pay for teachers and alternative certification. Trabert said we in Kansas should be doing these things, too. School choice was one of Florida’s first reforms, and Trabert again pointed to the benefits of competition and its effects on improving all schools.

    I asked a question relating to a school choice bill introduced in Kansas this year that would fund scholarships through tax credits for low income students. Some criticized the bill by saying it would allow private schools to choose only the best students, the ones they wanted in their schools, even though the bill was specifically targeted to low income students. This is a common criticism of private schools and sometimes charter schools, that they “cherry pick” the best students, leaving the public schools to deal with the rest. Trabert said “That’s one of the misconceptions that’s commonly put out. The facts don’t support those assumptions.”

    Another question had to do with the marketplace for private schools, either for special needs students or other students. Critics of school choice say there are currently very few public schools, so there is a lack of capacity to handle a large number of new students seeking admission using vouchers or tax credit scholarships as full or partial payment. Underlying these criticisms is a failure to recognize the dynamic nature of markets. Analyzed statically, the criticism is valid: markets tend towards equilibrium, with supply equal to demand. With private school tuition being what it is, relatively few parents can afford to send their children to these schools. But with the effective cost of a private school reduced dramatically by a voucher or tax credit scholarship, we would expect to see many new schools open.

    Video of the press conference is available here.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday May 11, 2011

    Kansas Arts Commission layoffs. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has dismissed all the employees of the Kansas Arts Commission. Earlier this year, the governor issued an order disbanding the commission, but the Senate reversed that order. The House had withheld funding for the commission, but recently reversed its position and added funding. The action by the governor, along with his line-item veto power, appears to end the life of the commission. … Government-funded arts supporters used a number of arguments and an aggressive lobbying campaign to make their case for funding. In the end, their arguments are like that of most others who plead for government funding — “the special pleading of selfish interests” that Henry Hazlitt identified. He also wrote of “… the persistent tendency of men to see only the immediate effects of a given policy, or its effects only on a special group, and to neglect to inquire what the long-run effects of that policy will be not only on that special group but on all groups. It is the fallacy of overlooking secondary consequences.” For more, see Kansas governor should veto arts commission funding, Arts supporters make case in Kansas Senate committee, and Arts funding in Kansas.

    Sculpture spending in Wichita. Yesterday the Wichita City Council voted four to three to spend $350,000 on a large sculpture at WaterWalk in downtown Wichita. The fact that the sculpture will be paid for with tax increment financing funds was used as an argument for proceeding with the expense, as the money is already allocated and can’t be used outside the TIF district. But, there’s nothing that requires the money be spent. … Council Member Michael O’Donnell said it is an “audacious” amount of money at a time of financial difficulty, and added that “I think it could set the arts back instead of propelling it forward because people would see that as a waste of government money.” He suggested tabling the idea until the economy improves as a way to “highlight fiscal responsibility that this council needs to show.” … If the benefit of the sculpture to WaterWalk is large, it seems that the WaterWalk developers would have an incentive to build it on their own. Except, being a public-private partnership, it’s sort of hard to tell where public subsidy ends and private ownership begins. … Not mentioned was the fact that the sculpture site is nearly next door to where the Wichita city manager owns a residence, and whether this requires that the spending and surrounding deliberations be handled in a special way.

    How much more can we soak the rich? Writes Jennifer Rubin: In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing a significant tax story did not get much notice. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that “a new congressional study concludes that the percentage of U.S. households owing no federal income tax climbed to 51% for 2009.” After presenting some figures that illustrate the progressivity of the American income tax system, she concludes: “There are legitimate arguments about how progressive our tax system should be; at what level of taxation do we risk impeding economic growth and which goals we want to promote through the tax code (e.g. family economic stability, home ownership, investment)? But we should at least be clear on the facts and our starting point. We can’t solve the debt problem by grabbing more money from the rich. And we simply don’t have, as Obama asserts, a tax system that undertaxes the rich.”

    School reform in Kansas, this year’s edition. From the Kansas Association of School Boards, on the major piece of school reform legislation this year: “HB 2191 passed 106-16. It will allow teachers to agree to extend their three-year probationary period by one or two additional years. The school board must provide a plan of assistance and give the teacher time to consider the special contract.” … Tinkering with the teacher tenure formula is all that has been accomplished this year regarding school reform. This is in a state that ranks very low among the states in policies relating to teacher effectiveness, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality.

    Wichita teacher cuts. Speaking of policies that work against teacher effectiveness: USD 259, the Wichita public school district has announced that it will reduce the number of teachers next year. The district’s contract with the union requires that teachers be laid off in order of seniority, so that new teachers are let go first. If the district was able to lay off their least effective teachers first, the district could end up with a smaller, but more effective, teacher workforce. … It might seem like automatically retaining the most experienced teachers is a beneficial policy. But research tells us that longevity in the classroom is not related to teacher effectiveness. One study found results that are typical: “There appear to be important gains in teaching quality in the first year of experience and smaller gains over the next few career years. However, there is little evidence that improvements continue after the first three years.” … Identifying effective teachers is something that many school districts have trouble doing, to the point where it makes one wonder if they are really interested in knowing. Kansas, as a state, has poor policies on evaluating teacher effectiveness. … The work rules that prevent school districts from dismissing ineffective teachers first are courtesy of the teachers unions, and are another reason why these institutions are harmful to the children they purport to serve.

    Real estate to be topic at Pachyderm, followed by tours. This Friday (May 13) the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Craig Burns and Glenn Edwards of Security 1st Title Company speaking on the topic “Real Estate Transactions, Ownership, Title, and Tales From the Trenches.” Following the event will be optional tours at the Sedgwick County Courthouse for presentations by Bill Meek, Register of Deeds from 2:00 pm to 2:25 pm, Kelly Arnold, County Clerk from 2:30 pm to 2:55 pm, and Linda Kizzire, County Treasurer from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm. … The public is welcome and encouraged to attend Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club. … Upcoming speakers: On May 20, Rob Siedleckie, Secretary, Kansas Social Rehabilitation Services (SRS) on the topic “The SRS and Initiatives.” On May 27, Todd Tiahrt, Former 4th District Congressman on the topic “Outsourcing our National Security — How the Pentagon is Working Against Us”.

    Immigration. From LearnLiberty.org, a project of Institute for Humane Studies: “Is it true that immigration raises the U.S. unemployment rate? Is it true that immigration affects U.S. income distribution? The conventional wisdom says that both of these things are true. However, economist Antony Davies says there is evidence to suggest that they are not. Looking at the data, there is no relationship between the rate of immigration and the unemployment rate, nor is there a relationship between the rate of immigration and income inequality. Further, there is evidence to suggest that immigrants actually create more American jobs.”