To
no one’s surprise, the Virginia Education
Association, which objects to being called what it
is — a teacher’s union -- urged the Virginia
General Assembly to raise teachers’ salaries,
increase their retirement benefits, require private
school teachers involved in publicly funded
preschool programs to have a bachelor’s degree as
well as specialized training, and to kill any
legislation that would authorize tuition tax credits
or vouchers for private schools.
Sure
sounds like a list of union demands.
The
teachers’ union proceeds on the assumption that
simply spending more money on public schools
produces a better educated student. The facts
regarding educational performance, as reported by
reputable organizations with no ax to grind, suggest
otherwise.
Our
own Census Bureau has noted that states with the
highest rates of per-student spending have
relatively low graduation rates. The Bureau’s
statistics showed no direct relationship between the
total amount of spending and student achievement.
Recently,
the chairman of a committee established jointly by
the National Academy of Sciences, the National
Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine
wrote that “the U.S. educational system is failing
in precisely those areas that underpin our
competitiveness: science, engineering and
mathematics.” His committee recommended a renewed
focus on fundamentals.
The
respected Program for International Student
Assessment reported that students in the U.S. were
actually scoring lower now than they were in 2000.
The American Association of State Colleges and
Universities concluded that an insufficient number
of U.S. students pursue degrees in math and science
because of “poor teacher quality at the K-12 level
and inadequate high school preparation in math and
science.”
Although
more Americans are graduating from colleges and
universities, a declining percentage of them have
the skills needed to comprehend routine data,
according to an adult literacy assessment conducted
by the National Center for Education Statistics and
published in December.
The
assessment found that “only 31 percent of college
graduates can read a complex book or extrapolate
from it.” Many in education said they were stunned
by the these findings.
These
recent statistics should prompt legislators to take
a more careful approach to education than they have
for the last two decades. The test should not be
whether we increase aggregate spending for
education, but rather how effective our education
policies are and how wisely we spend taxpayer funds.
Unfortunately,
the General Assembly has declined to reexamine the
methodology for appropriating money for K-12
programs that was developed for it in the 1980s by
the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Whatever the reasons for adopting that methodology,
the evidence is overwhelming that it no longer
serves the Commonwealth well.
Virginia’s
approach to funding the Standards of Quality is
fundamentally flawed. It is driven by the
input-oriented spending patterns of local school
districts, which ratchet upward annually without any
demonstrated linkage to student performance. This
“black box” methodology involves complex
calculations that discourage true alternative
analyses and systematic evaluation of costs.
Reconsideration
of the Standards of Quality and the current
methodology for funding them involves political
risk, but the risk to Virginia, its economy and the
future of Virginia students compels the legislature
to challenge the assumptions underlying that
methodology.
The
teachers’ union is a powerful political force that
will resist any reexamination. Parents, taxpayers
and educators who are motivated by something more
noble than self interest should demand bold action
at the legislative session that begins in a few
days.
If
we see business as usual on education at this
session, we can assume that our elected officials
aren’t serious about improving student
achievement.
--
January 30, 2005
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