Archive for the ‘public education’ Category

CEIFA’s Impact

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

The rising power of state government (Fusarelli and Cooper, 2009) has grown from the states’ increasing domination of school finance and, therefore, policy making because of the strings the states attached to funding.  Legal challenges to funding inequities and disparities led to court decisions such as Serrano v. Priest establishing financial neutrality as the basis for school funding.  States remedied the disparities among districts with the infusion of incremental state funds and regulation.  Subsequent rulings focused on adequacy and required state governments to provide resources to disadvantaged districts such that the provision of education adequately met their constitutional requirements.  New Jersey’s state constitution was deemed to go even further because of its provisions guaranteeing a thorough and efficient education especially in the Abbott v. Burke court decision. 

 

Although the state’s flawed approach to education is exemplified by the new funding formula contained in the New Jersey School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008, it is manifested in its predecessor, the Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act of 1996 (CEIFA.)  Dr. Reock studied the financial impact on school districts of the state’s failure not only to not fully enact CEIFA but also to freeze most CEIFA funding beginning with the 2002-03 school year (Reock, 2007.)  Based on his study (Sciarra, 2008), Dr. Reock found that “the state aid freeze caused massive under-funding of many school districts throughout the state, especially poor non-Abbott districts, and contributed to the property tax problem in the state.” 

 

Instead of fully funding CEIFA’s school funding formula as required by law, the state froze financial aid to schools at their 2001-02 school year levels regardless of any increases in enrollment, rising costs as well as state and federal unfunded mandates.  The shortfall was hardest on those districts that were most dependent upon state aid.  During the 2005-06 school year the statewide shortfall amounted to $846 million which translated into per pupil shortfalls of $1,627 in non-Abbott DFG A and B districts, $758 in DFG C through H districts, $386 DFG I and J districts and $188 in Abbott districts.  

 

The impact of the CEIFA funding shortfall was minimized on the Abbott districts largely due to their “parity-plus” court mandated protection.  State law forbids the budget of an Abbott district from falling below its level of the prior school year (Hu, 2006.)  Furthermore, under state law, if an Abbott district increases local property taxes without a state directive to do so, it will lose a similar amount of state aid. 

 

The CEIFA funding shortfall caused serious imbalances between local school districts.  During the 2005-06 school year, Abbott districts received approximately 58% of all state financial aid while educating only 23% of New Jersey’s K to 12 student enrollment.  This meant non-Abbott districts were educating 77% of New Jersey’s students with only 42% of state aid.  This imbalance has continued to widen under SFRA with Abbott aid increasing to approximately 60% of all state aid or $4.64 billion.  State aid reductions and the ever increasing unfunded state mandates force non-Abbott districts to balance their budgets by raising property taxes, increasing class sizes as well as cutting regular education programs and services.   

 

As part of his statement of New Jersey Supreme Court certification in support of the Plaintiffs’ opposition to the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008, Dr. Reock concluded (Sciarra, 2008) that “the State’s failure to fund CEIFA for the past six years directly resulted in an enormous shortfall of funding in districts across New Jersey.”  He went further to state, “By 2007-08, the sixth year of the CEIFA “freeze,” the total under-funding of state aid had reached $1.326 billion annually, despite the introduction of several new, smaller aid programs.”  The result was a state-driven increase in local property taxes within non-Abbott districts to make up for the shortfall. 

 

By passing through the majority of the cost of state mandates to local school districts, the State of New Jersey forces local schools to divert resources to bureaucratic regulatory compliance.  As a result, disproportionate amounts of a typical school district’s scarce financial and human resources are not invested in the classroom where they are needed most.  Local school districts would be able to operate more cost-effectively, earn a higher rate of return on their educational investment and provide greater accountability if they were free to concentrate on improving every student’s performance with the maximum possible level of local public support for the public funding of its public schools.

 

 

References

 

Fusarelli, B. C., & Cooper, B. S., Editors.  (2009) The Rising State: How State Power is Transforming our Nation’s Schools, Albany, New York: SUNY Press. 

Hu, W. (2008) In New Jersey, System to help Poorest Schools Faces Criticism, New York Times, October 30, 2006

Reock, E. C. Jr., (2007) Paper, Estimated Financial Impact of the ‘Freeze’ of State Aid on New Jersey School Districts, 2002-03 to 2005-06, Institute on Education Law and Policy, Rutgers University, Newark, http:// ielp.rutgers.edu/docs/CEIFA_Reock_Final.pdf.  

Sciarra, D. G., (2008) Certification of Dr. Ernest C. Reock, Jr. for the Supreme Court of New Jersey in support of the Plaintiffs’ opposition to the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, Education Law Center, Newark New Jersey, http://www.edlawcenter.org/ELCPublic/elcnews_080521_ReockCertification.pdf  

 

Self-governance

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Locality is crucial for accountability.  Because the greater is the distance between the policy maker or the policy making body and those most affected by the policy, the students, teachers and schools, the more adverse is the policy’s impact on a public school district’s finances and ultimately upon the quality of education it provides.  Our public schools, therefore, must be given the choice of becoming self-governing, self-funding, autonomous, local public school districts free from state and federal mandates so that they can be liberated to provide a top quality education while held being accountable to this standard by those who are the most capable of doing so, the local school district’s taxpayers.

 

A self-governing public school district would be free of state and federal mandates but would abide by all other state and federal laws.  It would remain a public school district rather than become a charter school.  It would continue to serve the same local community with the same regular and special education students.  While public school districts could elect to stay within the state system and continue to abide by all mandates, all districts would be given the opportunity to legally opt out. 

 

Self-governance is the alternative to a state dominated educational system that could provide public schools with the authority necessary to improve educational accountability consistent with the priorities of their local school communities.  It would also provide school districts with the flexibility to innovate rather than be forced to march in lock step to the state’s one-size-fits-all mandates which fit no district.  Because decisions guiding the operations of self-governing schools would no longer be determined at the state level, parents, teachers, school administrators, boards of education and local taxpayers would be better able to shape the quality of education which students receive in their local schools. 

 

Self-governance would eliminate the excessive financial and administrative burdens imposed by state mandates.  The ever increasing cost of the state’s unfunded and under funded mandates is forcing school districts not only to cut non-mandate protected education programs but also to increase property taxes.  For example, New Jersey’s public school districts can no longer afford to pay for these unfunded and under funded mandates because most school districts are forced to spend disproportionately more to meet the requirements of these mandates than these districts receive in total state and federal financial aid.  Self-governance would increase the financial resources available for the classroom because the funds that are currently used for compliance with state mandates could be redirected to improving student learning and achievement, which after all is the real mission of our schools.

 

How do we restructure our educational system such that we not only enable our schools to increase the property taxpayers’ return on their investment but also greatly improve the quality of education while holding schools accountable to this standard?  The answer is to give our public schools the choice of becoming self-governing, self-funding, autonomous local public school districts free from state and federal mandates.  This would empower public schools to improve the quality of education consistent with the priorities of their local communities as well as the flexibility to innovate.  Legally opting out of the state system through a state-wide voter approved referendum would restore decision-making to the local school district level.  Because decisions guiding the operations of self-governing schools would no longer be made largely at the state level, parents, teachers, school administrators, boards of education and local taxpayers would be better able not only to shape the quality of education provided in their local schools but also to hold their local schools accountable for this outcome.

The Tieboutian Choice

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Tiebout’s (1956) conceptual breakthrough was that taxpayers are mobile and as a result will choose the municipality that best meets their needs by moving to that location.  His model successfully addressed the free rider problem that plagues governmental entities providing public goods and services such as public education.  Indeed, taxpayers seem to decide where to live based largely on the quality of the local school district.

 

According to Tiebout (1956,) taxpayers reveal their preferences for their desired level of public goods and services by the decision they make concerning where they choose to live.  Through such a decision making process (Baker, Green and Richards, 2008,) Tiebout’s model “could lead to an optimal allocation of public services where no one person in the system could be made better off without making someone else worse off.”  According to Tiebout (1956,) “The greater the number of communities and the greater the variance among them, the closer the consumer will come to fully realizing his preference position.”

 

Tiebout (1956) concluded that a taxpayer’s choice of municipalities and, therefore, school districts, reflects a private sector competitive market model.  In discussing this model for school choice, Baker, Green and Richards (2008) report “Tiebout proposes that local, rather than centralized, government financing of public services could result in a form of competitive marketplace that would yield more optimal pricing of public goods through local tax policy and more appropriate alignment of consumer preferences and the quality of public goods.”  Tiebout (1956) explains this difference, “At the central level the preferences of the consumer-voter are given, and the government tries to adjust to the pattern of these preferences, whereas at the local level various governments have their revenue and expenditure patterns more or less set.” Taxpayers, therefore, will choose the district that best meets their needs when choosing among school districts of varying levels of educational quality.

 

Today, the Tieboutian choice is manifested in the difference between local funding versus state or federal funding and the corresponding state or federal control that comes along with it.  The fundamental problem with centralized funding, whether state or federal is that it leads to a one-size-fits-all approach for education but one that fits no district.  Baker, Green and Richards (2008) explain, “The local property tax empowers local voters to express what they want for their local public schools.”  But “when property taxes become statewide taxes, the political advantages of empowering local citizens and promoting competition and sorting among jurisdictions is lost.”  This mass standardization of policy often leads to state and federal funding guidelines that are incongruous with the needs and priorities of local school districts.

 

The specific needs of individual school districts vary to such a large degree that they render uniform state and federal policy formulas inadequate.  Instead, public school districts need a mass customization of educational funding, control and policy that can only derive from local funding and governance.  Oates (1972) supports the notion that public education should be provided at the lowest level.  Kenny (1982) also argues for the provision of public education by local school districts.  Because there is no reliable connection between state and federal policy makers and the local provision of education, accountability requires local decision making.

 

A reduction in local school district control over the levying and allocating of property taxes decreases accountability and adversely affects public school quality.  Because reductions of property tax revenues whether through state imposed limitations or via the substitution of state or federal funds reduces the level of local investment in the school district, the stake held by local taxpayers is similarly reduced.  Fischel (2001) explains this using taxpayers without children in the public schools, “At the local level, they are willing to support, or at least not oppose, high levels of spending because better schools add to the value of their homes.  At the state level, voters without children do not perceive such an offsetting benefit to their taxes.”  Having a lowered sense of ownership in their schools, taxpayers become more complacent as the proportion of state and federal funding increases.  This causes a corresponding reduction in the level of accountability required by the stakeholders and the quality of their public schools’ education declines as a result.

 

Fischel (2001) explains that taxpayers resemble investors as they want their major asset, their home, to appreciate in value.  Home owners have a vested interest in the success of their local schools because the credit rating of a school district’s host municipality is largely dependent on the financial soundness and credit worthiness of its schools.  Indeed, the higher is a municipality’s credit rating the lower is its debt service expense. 

 

Taxpayers hold local schools accountable not just to improve the quality of education but more importantly to offset risks to their property’s value which can not be easily diversified.  The more accountability a local school district provides, the more local taxpayers support the public funding of public education.  Local school districts, therefore, will efficiently provide public education as a result of taxpayers’ exercising their Tieboutian choice.

References

Baker, B. D., Green, P., & Richards, C. E.  (2008). Financing Education Systems, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:  Pearson Education, Inc. 

Fischel, W., (2001) The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.  

Kenny, L. W., (1982) Economies of scale in schooling, Economics of Education Review, 2:1-24. 

Oates, W. E., (1972) Fiscal Federalism, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Tiebout, C. M., (1956) A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures, The Journal of Political Economy, 64, 416-424.