Education Funding Riddle Solved: Double Your Taxes

The Education Task Force met recently to discuss education funding and Utah's inglorious distinction of having the lowest per pupil funding in the Union. (Click HERE to listen to that portion of the meeting.)  Many critics have cited Utah's bottom ranking as a result of misguided legislative priorities.

So, in an effort to survey the budgetary landscape and ascertain the facts on the matter, Jonathan Ball of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst (LFA) Office went to work determining what would be needed to bring Utah into the mainstream of per pupil education funding.  The numbers are shocking.

Before we get started though, it is important to know where money for education funding comes from. While most know that a large portion of property taxes pay for local schools,  few people know that every dime of Utah income taxes go toward education.  While local property taxes are set at the local level, income taxes are governed by the Legislature.  So what would your Legislature need to do to income taxes to boost education funding?

If Utah wanted to increase its current spending ($6,200 per pupil per year) to that of the national average ($10,500 per pupil per year) it would mean the State would need to increase total education spending by $2.6 Billion.  To raise that money, your income taxes would need to nearly double to 9.8%.  Of course, you would still need to pay your Federal tax obligation in addition to that.

For fun, the LFA ran the scenario of what Utah's income tax rate would need to be to compete with the U.S.'s biggest spender on Education, the District of Columbia.  With $29,400 being spent per pupil per year, that is a tough bar to reach.  To do so, Utah would need to raise $8 Billion in revenue.  Keep in mind when I say revenue, that means taxes...on you.  Your income taxes would need to rise to 19.8%, or quadruple from today's rates, to meet the high bar set by the good people of the District of Columbia.

Utah runs on a lean budget.  We make do without many of the institutional luxuries that other states afford themselves.  The upside, broadly speaking,  is that we have kept taxes low and government out of people's lives.  Do Utahn's want an increase in their income taxes?  The only public outcry I have heard for increasing taxes was in a meeting of irate parents and retired teachers who were protesting Ogden School District's decision to layoff the district's librarians to make up for a $2.7 million budget shortfall.  Yet, this same group also demanded LARGER class sizes to help make up the funding gap.  At that point the discussion ran off the rails and I knew this gathering was more of a mob tar-and-feather rally than a civil townhall meeting.

So what personal income would the rational taxpayer be willing to sacrifice to increase education funding?  I don't know.  My hunch is that an even larger and more angry crowd would be at the Legislature's doorstep if we increased taxes on the order discussed at the Education Task force meeting.                
  

DEFIANT: Ogden School District Education Revolution Succeeds

The Ogden School District is not new to controversy.  Last year saw a contentious contract dispute as administrators placed performance pay provisions in the new working agreement with teachers.  All the teachers except one agreed to the new contract.  Also, last year we saw Superintendent Zabriskie depart and Superintendent Smith step up to the helm of the district.  At that time, some in the community questioned his ability.

I had my first opportunity to meet Superintendent Smith when he invited to me to tour Dee Elementary school last year.  He was showcasing a new revolutionary approach OSD was taking to improve historically low student performance.  I was completely impressed by what I saw then.  You can read about what I saw during that tour.  At that time, I crossed my fingers and hoped that the risks the district were taking would pay dividends. 

As it turns out, they did, and huge.  Here are the results of the Ogden program:

Keep in mind that, last year, these three schools were ranked among the ten worst schools in the state.  I am proud to say that that onerous distinction now no longer applies.

Also, keep in mind that these amazing results have occurred in just one school year.  The program will be entering its second year this Fall.  The district plans to build on this foundation of success and student performance should continue its upward trajectory.  They are truly taking these schools from worst to first.

Another example of Ogden School District achievement is represented in their student graduation rates:

 
As you can see, Ogden High School ranks with Bountiful, Weber, and Fremont high schools.  Both Ben Lomond and Ogden High Schools beat their Salt Lake City counterparts (East, West, and Highland HS) despite the fact that they are demographically very similar.  

Ogden School District has made uncomfortable personnel changes, changed patterns in teaching, and adopted practices that are ultra-focused on getting results.  These results have not come easily, but the difference it is making is absolutely worth it. 

I want to thank Superintendent Smith, and members of the school board Joyce Wilson, Don Belnap, Jennifer Zundel, Steven Marker, Jeff Heiner, Shane Story, and Jeff Harris.  Their willingness to move mountains has made Ogden a better place.    

Utah Schools: Self-Induced Cut-Off Date Disaster?

In reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I found one of the chapters deals with the intriguing subject of self induced failure.  The chapter illustrated the effect that arbitrary cut-off dates have on students and their future performance.

The book specifically gives an example of Hockey players in Canada.  While at a major league championship, the roster for the players was printed on the back of one of the programs for the event.  A curious fact was found on that sheet: the majority of players were born in January and none were born in December.  Why could that be?

Well, as it turns out, the Canada hockey league cut off date is January 1.  Since grooming starts early in childhood for the sport, the kids with the best skills and advantage get picked for more advanced training year after year.  That training advantage adds up over time.

Unfortunately for the kids born in December, they are 11 months younger and smaller than their January-born counterparts.  That maturity difference is enough at a young age to give the kids born closest to the cut-off date the greatest advantage.

This example got me thinking about our school system here in Utah.  We see this cut-off phenomena in sports but is it present in academic performance as well?  As it turns out, it is!

Here is a chart from a captivating Oxford study showing the academic performance advantage of the oldest kids in a grade versus their younger cohorts:

 
The "RF" and "IV" represent slightly different ways of defining the age of students.  Regardless of how they are defined, and across international boundaries, you can see that the oldest students have a large advantage over their younger cohorts in both the forth grade and 8th grade. 

If this were just true for grade school and not higher education or the workplace, this fact would be of little importance.  But alas, the study shows that indeed this advantage does telegraph into later stages of life as well.   Here is an excerpt regarding college enrollment in the United States:

Individuals born in the first assigned relative month are underrepresented in the pre-university stream (as measured by taking the SAT or ACT) by 7.7 percent. Further, individuals born in the first relative month are underrepresented in accredited four-year college/universities enrollments by 11.6 percent.

So what is to be done?  First, I would ask local school districts to conduct a study, perhaps in conjunction with a local university, to determine how this age advantage is affecting local school districts.  Then, I would recommend studying some variations on the school schedule and class groupings to address the issue.  Perhaps school districts could then implement a plan that best serves their immediate community.  

Hopefully, achievement in school and the workplace can be left to the student's own merit rather than by an inflexible cut-off date that defines success by an accident of birth.

Utah Education: Low Marks and Sacred Tradition

I have recently been reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers.  If you haven't read the book yet, I highly recommend it.  There are some fascinating lessons on life and success in the book.

One of the chapters deals with the American school system and some of the dynamics that are at play in helping students perform well.  He describes circumstances that have laid the groundwork for education in Western culture versus the education of students in countries like Japan and China.  Attention is drawn to the remarkable difference in test scores between American students and their Asian counterparts.

One of his conclusions is that the rice cultivation culture that has dominated Asian nations for centuries has created a fertile environment to students to perform well in school.  But why?

To answer this, lets look at some data.  Karl Alexander from John Hopkins University conducted a study of students in the Baltimore Maryland area from high, low, and middle income backgrounds.  Using standardized tests, they tracked the students for 5 years with them taking tests at the beginning and end of each school year.  Here is a table of the results:

Lets discuss his findings one section at a time.

This chart is derived from the table at the top.  The blue line is children from high income households.  The red line is low income.  Notice that the test scores are not terribly different in the 1st grade.  However, as time goes on, the difference grows greater and greater.  What is causing this difference?  Are poor children unable to learn as much a their affluent counterparts?  Queue the next chart please:

To find out if the kids were learning or not during the school year, Mr. Alexander tested the children at the beginning of the school year and at the end.  Do you see a broad divergence between the three groups here?  I don't.  In fact, in the 4th and 5th grade, affluent children were tracking just below their middle income and poor counterparts.  If that is the case, how could affluent children be out performing their peers as we saw in the first chart?  Our third chart holds the answer:

  
Because Mr. Alexander tested the children at the beginning and end of the school year, he was able to compare their scores before summer break and after summer break.  Take a look at the above findings.  With negative scores, the poor kids actually lost information over the long summer break after 1st and 2nd grades.  Both the middle and low income kids both show low gains the rest of the time.  However, the affluent kids show tremendous increases over this same period.

The study revealed a compelling and unsurprising reason for the difference.  The answer?  Affluent parents can afford to keep their children busy with learning opportunities during the summer months.  The leisurely summer days spent by the low and middle income kids just aren't filled with the same learning opportunities.  Their parents often plop them in front of the TV or mind numbing distractions.  Meanwhile, the affluent kids are getting training in music, language, and other extra-curricular activities during the summer.

Regardless of income, the kids demonstrate equal intelligence.  The difference is the opportunity for learning.  Kids that come from well off homes in America tend to have more opportunity, via parental intervention, than those that don't.  This brings us back to the difference between American students and those from Japan and China. 

The average American school year is 180 days.  South Korea has a school year of 220 days and Japan tops out at 242 days.  With so much opportunity for learning, is it any wonder that these countries excel at educating their children?

This education ethos from the Orient stems from work ethos forged by centuries of cultivating rice patties.  Unlike America's ancestors from the European feudal order of agriculture, where peasants spent only a third of their time in useful work during the planting and harvesting seasons, Oriental peasants harvested and planted year round and were self-employed in doing so.  The incentive structures and work ethics for these historical cultures couldn't be more different from one another.  Strikingly, as is detailed on Outliers, this cultural heritage telegraphs to societies today...for better or worse. 

The trick to competing and improving in America is to recognize the inherent weaknesses in our system and adapt to them.  Many schools have extended school days or more teaching days per year to increase the opportunities for learning and student improvement.  Perhaps it is time for us in Utah to review some of our time honored traditions, such as summer break, and seek other ways to provide excellence in education.            

December Caucus 2011

We met as a Republican Caucus today to review some up and coming issues regarding state business.  Here are some highlights:

The Budget

The Governor made his budget proposal recently.  Interestingly, his budget contains about $30 Million more than our consensus budget figures show.  This is an interesting discrepancy.  It appears that the Governor believes that there are accounts somewhere that can be tapped to cover this difference.  If so, the House and Senate are not privy to the whereabouts of these funds and will be allocating funds accordingly.

The State is now at 90% of our constitutional borrowing limit due to a 7% decline in property tax assessments statewide this year.  The state is also running at a $52 Million ongoing budget deficit that needs to be corrected.  Also, student population growth increased 12,000 that needs to be funded.  Even though it is widely reported in the press that we have a $120 Million surplus this year, this "surplus" will likely be consumed entirely in funding student growth, correcting our ongoing budget deficit, and paying down our debt.

Interestingly, a comparison was also given to us today showing how much we have eroded away at our Rainy Day Funds.  In 2007 our Rainy Day Funds and reserves totaled $1.56 Billion.  Today we have just $348 Million.  Rainy Day Fund renewal should be a budget priority as well if possible.

Health Care

We heard a presentation on the Affordable Care Act (i.e. Obamacare).  I didn't like what I heard.  You won't either.  Here is what you have to look forward to:

• Those aged 25-34 will have their premiums increase 40% by January 2014.
• Those who choose not to purchase a policy will be fined 1% of their yearly income.
• If an employee chooses a wrong policy, their employer will be fined.
• Transgender assignment surgery will be covered in all policies.
• As your premiums increase, the Feds will subsidize your premiums (with money they taxed from you.)
• ...and more unsettling regulations.

We also discussed that Utah has 600 individuals on high risk state funded insurance called HIP.  This small group of people have consumed $40 Million in just two years ($33,360 per individual per year).  The Federal government granted Utah the $40 Million to help this group a couple years ago with the idea that the funds would last through 2014.  Today, the money is gone and rather than discontinue the program, the Federal Government has cut Utah a check for another $40 Million in order to prevent embarrassment and discrediting of the program.   

Public Education

The Legislature discussed the concepts of merit pay for school teachers and some of the dynamics at play.  Although no details were discussed, it appears that the body is leaning toward this type of compensation plan for teachers.  Of course, the devil is in the details.  Keep your eyes peeled on this issue in the weeks to come...

Note:  Federal funds equal just $280 Million of our $3.4 Billion public school budget.  Is it worth the strings that are attached?  Let's figure out a way to jettison Federal dollars and exercise freedom to teach under our own recognizance.  

Land Issues

In a big push back at Federal overreach, Ken Ivory is proposing a bill that will force the Federal Government to sell public lands to private owners.  The National Parks would be deeded to the U.S Government but the remaining land would be sold off with 5% of the proceeds going to school funds.  The remainder would be revenue for the U. S. Government (and hopefully would pay down the debt.)

It's a bold idea.  I support it.

Look for more updates to come....

Ogden School District: Capitulating to Failure?

I was dismayed to read the Deseret News yesterday and discover that 5 of the 10 worst schools in our state last year are in the Ogden School District. 

Here is the snapshot of the lowest performers (click to enlarge):

This report is an abomination.

What is happening in the Ogden School District?

I live across the street from Dee School.  In fact, my oldest daughter attended Dee for kindergarten in 2008 before being put in the advanced learning program for 1st grade which was held at Heritage Elementary across town.  My second daughter Wynnie attended kindergarten at Dee in 2010, the year these test scores were produced.  Wynnie tested 100% on her end-level tests for the 1st grade at Ogden Preparatory Academy (a charter school) this year.

From personal experience, I don't believe throwing more money at schools is going to cure the problem we have.  I also don't believe the transient student base is as large of a problem as its made to be.  You see, I was a transient student and attended the following schools growing up:

1983-1985 Hillcrest Elementary - American Falls, Idaho
1985 Shelley Elementary - Shelley, Idaho
1986 Westside Elementary - Idaho Falls, Idaho
1986 Four Georgians Elementary - Helena, Montana
1986-1987 Adelaide Elementary - Bountiful, Utah
1987-1988 Woodland Hills Elementary - Kingwood, Texas
1988 Kingwood Middle School - Kingwood, Texas
1988-1989 Westside Elementary - Idaho Falls, Idaho (Yes, I suffered the indignity of going from middle school back to an elementary school system in a different state.)
1989-1991 Kingwood Middle School - Kingwood, Texas
1991-1995 Kingwood High School - Kingwood, Texas

Of all the schools I attended in the different states, Texas by far had the most serious education system at the time.  Their no-guff attitude and strictness translated into excellent classroom behavior and high expectations of students and faculty.  That, in turn, translated into better performance on tests.

Texas schools are funded strictly on property tax.  There is no income tax in Texas.  So, the inner city schools are "rich" relatively speaking and their school buildings are palaces as funding from property taxes paid on skyscrapers is much much more than it is on suburban residential homes.  Nevertheless, the inner city schools of Houston were always languishing in performance, despite the significant financial upper hand.

I attended a very poor high school in Texas.  Yet, we produced some of the highest grades in the school district we were in.  What was the difference between my school and others? Answer: A culture of discipline and high expectations. 

Thus, I believe Ogden's problem is not a financial one but one of attitude and workplace culture.  If we want Ogden schools to fail, all that is require is for us to continue doing what we are doing right now.  It's an easy road.   If we want to change this shabby performance, we need to do things differently...and in a big way.     

For example, if a child brings a switchblade to school, that child needs to be disciplined.  There needs to be consequences. We don't need to ignore the kid because "getting attention is what the child really wants" and so ignoring his misdeed somehow becomes the perverse answer to encouraging better behavior.  We need solid discipline.

However, this kind of change will require fortitude and toughness.  People don't like changes in the status quo.  I know this.  I changed the status quo in my neighborhood so much that my life was threatened.  But, you don't see pimps and hookers running the show in my neighborhood anymore either.  We prevailed by taking some risks and sticking to our big plan for change. 
    
I am eager to hear innovative suggestions from the education community on how we can turn this situation around.  Do we need to open an ESL only school?  Do we need to allot state money directly to the schools instead of letting it trickle down through the districts for better or for worse?  I want to know how we can turn these lemons into big juicy apples.

I don't want to point blame.  I just want results.  So let's get to work!  Email or call me with your suggestions.

Book Review: A Century of Service - 1860-1960 - A History of the Utah Education Assocation

Ok, I will be honest with you.  I did not "read" page for page this book.  It is a 680-page encyclopedic diary of committee motions, board findings, leadership successions and other minutia that I felt were best left as a reference on the pages of the book than swimming around in my head.  However, among the ocean of detail I did find a few noteworthy things.

Among them, the book extracts from the October 1921 edition of Review, a UEA publication,  in suggesting a "Teacher's Code of Ethics":

1.  The Constitution of the United States gives every man the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  If we choose to be teachers, we should show by our action that we are happy in our work.
2.  Do not be a grouch; it will show in your work, your face, and your schools.
3.  Make yourself so important to the people with whom you work, that they will feel your absence.  The community you work in should be the best in the country.
4.  Don't content yourself with knocking [criticizing].  You are only ringing your own death knell; for everything you knock out, you should build something better to take it's place.
5.  Join the teachers association, and see that you help make it a factor for good by doing your full duty without complaint, that those who see our good work may help us to better conditions.
6.  Make your work the first consideration all the time.
7.  Remember that the privileges we enjoy have been earned by steady application to work for high ideals.  Do not abuse the privileges we have.  By better work and higher ideals, let us earn greater freedom.  Remember always that increased freedom is always dependent upon greater responsibility.
8.  Demand the standard of punctuality of your students and then be sure that you do all and more than you require of them.
9.  Do not be a gossip carrier.  The best of us sometimes make mistakes.  Help the one who has erred back to a good healthy attitude. 

My how times have changed!  For fun, contrast these words to the legal disclaimer message of today's UEA code of ethics.  Which one inspires you more?

It was refreshing to find this gem in the book.  The "Code" from Review are words we all should live by, regardless of our profession.  How pleasant would our lives be if everyone we knew at work lived by these basic rules?

Finally, here is a departing fun factoid from the book:  In 1875 Utah had 236 School Districts, 458 teachers, 19,278 students, and 65 children per school.

I am grateful to the owner of this rare book who loaned it to me to peruse.

Resolution Convolution: The $101 Million Drama

Today the Utah Legislature was called into special session by Governor Herbert.  As a representative-elect, I was invited to attend and watch the Legislature address the issue dealing with $101 million dollars that are coming to Utah as part of the Federal Government's education jobs bailout which passed earlier this year.

As you can probably guess, it was a contentious issue and stirred some heated debate.

The resolution as it was proposed stated that Utah was accepting the funds but doing so holding its nose due to the perceived usurpation of State's rights and encroachment of Federal power on State prerogative.

Here are some important facts related to the funds and the resolution:

1.  The funds were officially requested by the Governors office and would be received by the State whether or not the Legislature approved the resolution.
2.  The Legislature has sole authority over appropriating State funds for use, including education funds, and not passing this resolution would allow the Federal government to bypass the Legislature by issuing funds to school districts directly.
3.  The resolution with its strong language of dissatisfaction added was seen as a compromise on the issue.
4.  The funds are desperately needed to plug a $50 million shortfall in our education budget.

So, the debate that ensued on the House Floor was quite intriguing.  On one side, you had a Republican  faction of representatives who absolutely opposed receiving the funds on grounds that it was fiscally irresponsible on a national level and just another example of government over spending.  On another side, you had Republican representatives that supported the strong language and yet wanted to approve the bill based on the States budget gap.  Finally, on a third side, the Democratic representatives tried to substitute a bill with friendlier wording than the one proposed on the basis that provoking the Federal Government with a verbal rebuke would hurt other sources of Federal funding that we are dependent on.

In the end, the original resolution was passes with just 14 Republican representatives voting "No" on the measure.

The Legislature today was put in a Catch-22 situation.  To have voted the resolution down on grounds of supporting State's Rights would have had the opposite desired effect as the Federal government circumvented the State's authority to distribute funds and encroached further into State business.  However, today's vote of approval may likely put some of the State's sovereignty at risk in the future as the Federal Government uses the acceptance of funds as a reason to mandate compliance to more Federal rules.  It has done just that with Medicaid funds the State received several years ago.

It seems that the Federal Government is becoming a master of making offers that States cannot refuse.