Editorial: Revived K-12 funding plan is still flawed

01/11/2006

The 65 percent idea failed in 2005. This one should, too.

Minneapolis Star Tribune
Last update: January 10, 2006 – 7:22 PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants most Minnesota school districts to spend their budget dollars differently. Convinced that “there are too many steps between superintendents and students,” this week he recommended that all districts be required to spend at least 70 percent of their funding on classroom instruction.
While that may sound reasonable on the surface, it raises big questions about local school control, K-12 micromanagement and the value of both direct instruction and support services.

Pawlenty first floated this idea last year (then as the 65 percent solution), but it fell by the wayside. That’s where the concept should stay. Even though the new proposal rightly factors out food service and transportation from the equation, it remains problematic.

Under the 70 percent plan, most of Minnesota’s 340 school districts would have to shift an estimated $112 million out of areas such as administration and staff development, and into teacher salaries and other classroom activities. State figures show that about half of all Minnesota districts are at or near the 70 percent line. Minneapolis and St. Paul, for example, already meet that minimum.

But districts such as Mounds View, Bloomington and Roseville would have to shift amounts as high as $4.8 million. Some of those districts are high performers with good test scores. Why should the state force them to make budget changes if they are doing a good job?

Local research supports the idea that state schools are spending properly. Last year, the state auditor’s report on Minnesota K-12 spending supported the case that school leaders have made in recent years: Taxpayer dollars have not been frittered away on too many “central office” types; rather, funding has not kept pace with increasing costs. And national studies rank this state as middle of the pack or lower on the percentage spent on nonteacher positions.

State Education Commissioner Alice Seagren says the governor resurrected this proposal to stimulate discussion about getting more funds into Minnesota classrooms. It is reasonable for any large bureaucracy to periodically reevaluate its spending. Yet this particular idea—one that forces districts to spend a specific percentage amount in a certain category—is overly prescriptive. The state and federal government properly set standards and academic achievement levels. Once that is done, lawmakers should let local school officials decide how to meet those goals.

In addition, the proposal seems grounded in the notion that Minnesota school funds are somehow being wasted. As the state’s own figures show, there is little evidence to support that idea.