OPINION – Big Changes to State Education Funding Needed
By Richard Duncan, Ph.D.
It is amazing how over the course of just one week we can go from reports of two dozen local schools closing to pitches for $250 million in new schools, additions, and renovations. It’s enough to make anyone wonder – how can we be short so many millions to keep our small, community schools open yet be ready to spend many more millions on others?
Though some have tried to pin the blame on school choice, while others point to inefficiencies in local school systems, the truth is, as always, somewhere else entirely.
To be clear, both are right. School choice has cost public schools funding and our public school system is wildly inefficient.
But both are also wrong. The number of students lost to population decline far outpaces those who participate in choice programs, which have failed to significantly impact a majority of the state. And even if each and every local school and district administrator were an expert in human relations, facility maintenance, network infrastructure, nutrition, mass transit, and legal matters (oh, and education), our state’s laws and policies simply don’t allow for local efficiency or innovation in operations beyond the occasional “shared service” or “superintendent who takes on three other roles at the same time.”
The true culprit here is rooted in our collective aversion to actually changing how we do things. Population dropped in communities all over West Virginia when we failed to adapt to changing economic conditions throughout the latter half of the last century. In spite of that hard lesson, we continue to offer only small tweaks to the system instead of taking a critical look at what meaningful changes can prevent the outcomes we’ve seen over and over again.
Whether a child is enrolled in a public school or receives the Hope Scholarship, the funding for that child comes from the same, outdated source – the State Aid Formula. This formula has done more to drive consolidations and closures than any law or policy over the past four decades.
It’s not rocket science (trust me). If counties are funded on the number of students enrolled with no weight on what grade levels they serve or how many schools are in that county, then the most efficient setup would be for each county to eventually consolidate all of their local schools into one, county-wide school. Why spread the funding out when having more, local schools is penalized by adding overhead and staffing with no increase in funding?
The formula also provides very little to cover basic maintenance costs for those school facilities. If your county (like mine) does not have a school excess levy, then you are forced to choose over and over which necessary expenses you will go without this year just so you can keep as many classrooms open and buses on the road as possible. Most of our state school facilities funding then goes to brand-new schools and major renovations, and we recycle and repeat.
If we truly want to see local community schools thrive again in our state, then we need to make significant changes to how we approach education funding. A more school-based formula like the one I studied in 2020 is not only possible, it could be crafted to eliminate structural inefficiencies and help protect local schools at little to no cost increase to the state.
We need to fund schools not systems, encourage stewardship of local school buildings, and empower communities to focus on educating their kids instead of operating antiquated systems. If not, the coming move to “consolidate” counties may only further drive the extinction of local, community schools when county lines no longer limit how many schools a single district can close.
Dr. Richard Duncan is the Superintendent of Schools in Roane County, West Virginia. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Can government really be more efficient?
December 3, 2024 – 12:49 am
Finding ways to run government more efficiently is all the rage these days.
President-elect Donald Trump has charged Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with cutting federal spending. The pair said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.”
West Virginia Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey said repeatedly during the campaign that there are savings to be had in state government. “I would begin on day one with an audit of all the state agencies to try to get to the bottom of how we can find efficiencies,” Morrisey said during a pre-election debate.
Government, by nature, is not efficient. Agencies do not have to make a profit, so there is no motivation to be economical. As the late politician Eugene McCarthy said, “The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.”
The challenge for Musk and Ramaswamy is finding savings where it really counts. They say they will start with all the federal regulations that carry with them administrators and spending. As CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria wrote, “There are more than 180,000 pages of federal regulations. Surely it’s worth taking a closer look at them and retiring many.”
But the real money is in mandatory programs. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance make up 60 percent of the federal budget. Defense, which is discretionary, is about 13 percent. Interest on the debt is another ten percent. Also, that spending is approved by Congress so it will be hard for Musk and Ramaswamy to get their hands on it.
But they deserve their shot. Federal spending IS out of control. The federal government spent $6.75 trillion this past fiscal year, nearly $2 trillion more than it collected in taxes. The federal debt is $36 trillion and growing by the second.
By contrast, West Virginia state government, by law, cannot run a deficit so spending cannot exceed revenue. However, that does not mean state government is operating like a well-oiled machine.
But, just like the federal government, the difficulty is in finding substantial operational savings. The general revenue budget for this fiscal year is $5 billion. Public education takes up the biggest chunk at $2.3 billion, higher ed gets $473 million, Health and Human Services another $844 million, health facilities $218 million, corrections, jails, prisons, State Police and all Homeland Security about $529 million.
Are there savings there? Probably, but finding it and getting lawmakers to go along with substantive cuts will be difficult. Spending is often associated with constituent groups who can and will pressure lawmakers.
Just like the Trump administration, the Governor-elect Morrisey deserves his chance to find significant savings, but it won’t be easy.
Can government really be more efficient?
First Person
Opinion, WVPA Sharing
COLUMN: Find your diamonds
By Greg Kozera, Shale Crescent USA
This week Lynnda and I attended an economic development, climate and energy conference held in Oil City and Titusville, PA the birthplace of the commercial oil industry. For decades the world oil price was set at the building where we ate lunch on Monday in Oil City. I was the closing keynote speaker on Monday sharing the benefits of the Shale Crescent USA region. Usually, I use only my own stories when speaking. I opened with this story because it was so appropriate. You may find it helpful. It’s a true story in the book Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell.
Back in the 17th century there lived not far from the River Indus a Persian by the name of Ali Hafed. Ali owned a very large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. He was contented and wealthy. One day a visitor told him about diamonds. With a handful of diamonds, he could purchase a country. With a diamond mine he could place his children upon thrones through the influence of great wealth.
When Ali Hafed heard about diamonds and how much they were worth, he became discontented. He felt poor compared to diamonds and wanted to be rich. Ali sold his farm, left his family with a neighbor and went off in search of diamonds. After several years, failing to find diamonds, he was broke and in rags. In despair he cast himself into the sea off the coast of Spain and died.
https://wvpress.org/opinion/column-find-your-diamonds/
Note: Opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors unless noted otherwise. It is the policy of Chop Wood, Carry Water Enterprises LLC, and this newsletter https://chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com/, to include a broad array of thought and opinion.