Articles

Bill would channel schools' spending: 'Classroom' portion must be at least 65%

By Bridget Gutierrez
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jan. 9, 2006

Gov. Sonny Perdue is pushing for a law requiring schools to spend at least 65 percent of their federal, state and local funding "in the classroom."

The bill, modeled after similar legislation in other states, is expected to be filed today, the first day of the new legislative session, as part of an educational package focusing on classroom work.

The so-called 65 percent solution has proved controversial in other states, including Florida, where critics have called it a smoke screen to hide what they say is a lack of educational funding.

Supporters say the plan will provide money for education without raising taxes, make school systems more fiscally responsible and improve student performance on standardized tests.

"When I heard that one system had one school in it [and] had a superintendent and a principal, I started scratching my head about why," Perdue said in a press briefing with reporters last week.

"Statistics demonstrate that school systems where students achieve best are spending 65 percent in the classroom. That is where education takes place."

This legislative session is the last of the governor's first term in office. Some Georgians are already criticizing the plan.

"It appears their idea of policy development over there must either be Web surfing or reading press clippings," said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the 65,500-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators, the state's largest teachers group. "We have some serious challenges in education in Georgia, and I don't think we're going to meet them with simplistic, bumper-sticker approaches."

The governor's office declined to provide a draft of his legislation, but Perdue released some details in his pre-session briefing. Under his plan, school systems would be required to spend 65 percent of their operating budget on costs such as teacher salaries, textbooks and field trips, but not on other campus expenses including librarians, nurses, school resource officers, guidance counselors, janitors and principals.

Beginning in 2008 - well after the November election - those systems not in compliance would be expected to increase the proportion of instructional spending by at least 2 percent per year until they achieve the mark. Waivers would be available for those below 65 percent that are performing well academically.

"The closer the money is to where the action is taking place between the students and the teachers, the better achievement we're going to get," said Kathy Cox, the state superintendent of schools, who like Perdue is up for re-election this year.

"This is not going to be the only thing we're saying is important in Georgia education," Cox said. "But it's an important goal we're going to try to reach, particularly for those school systems not meeting our achievement standards."

A fledgling group called First Class Education - founded last March by a Utah-based Internet entrepreneur - is pushing for all states and the District of Columbia to implement the rule within two years. Louisiana, Kansas and Texas have adopted the measure, and ballot initiatives are under way in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state, said Tim Mooney, the group's director.

"This has just really taken off across the country," said Mooney, a Republican political consultant from Arizona who has helped Perdue's staff with the legislation. "It just makes sense. People are very frustrated that we keep spending more dollars in k-12, but they don't seem to be getting where they need to go. ... We think this percentage will make a difference."

The idea is causing a stir here, but it's unclear just how many systems would be affected. Neither the governor's office nor the Department of Education could say how many of the state's school systems spend less than 65 percent. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Georgia's systems averaged 63.3 percent of direct spending in the classroom in the 2002-03 school year, the most recent year for which data are available.

Trion Independent School District spent the largest share that year with 69.9 percent; Glascock County allocated the least with 51.4 percent.

"I am eager to hear what need this addresses," said Don Rooks, a legislative specialist for the Georgia School Boards Association. "I don't know what problem it solves."

Much of the debate in Georgia, as in other states, is likely to focus on the definition of "classroom."

Perdue said he wants to use the definition of NCES, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. But some educators say that definition may be too narrow and could force systems to cut necessary expenses, such as maintenance and transportation, to meet an arbitrary standard.

In Fayette County, one of the state's highest-performing school systems and wealthiest counties, officials spend about 70 percent of a $164 million budget on instruction. But Superintendent John DeCotis said it might not be possible for others - some of which may have a disproportionately high number of at-risk students or a poor property tax base - to achieve that level.

With skyrocketing fuel and energy costs this year, DeCotis admitted it might be difficult for his own system to maintain.

“The governor is after the right thing. It's just that public schools have so much on them, and they have to be spread so thin," he said. "If they ask for more in one area, they have to ask for less in another because we're only going to get so many dollars."

Policy experts, too, are skeptical. A report released in November by an education division of Standard & Poor's found there was no correlation between the percentage of money spent in the classroom and student test scores in nine states considering the measure.

"We've got study after study after study that shows that simply increasing resources doesn't improve student achievement," said Gary Henry, an education policy professor at Georgia State University. "This is just another one of those kinds of policies that someone from the outside comes up with ... and it distracts us from the hard work in policy reform that needs to be done."

The 65 percent solution

According to data from the 2002-03 school year, the latest available, most school systems in metro Atlanta already spend at least 65 percent of their operating budgets on instruction.

Cobb: 68.7
Henry: 67.3
Fayette: 66.5
Coweta: 65.2
Cherokee: 65.1
Fulton: 65.1
Gwinnett: 65.1
Marietta: 65
Forsyth: 64.6
Clayton: 63.9
DeKalb: 63.1
Buford: 61.8
Decatur: 61
Atlanta: 56.3

Source: Governor's Office

Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more information: www.ajc.com.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information, visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.