Friday, April 28, 2000
Education solutions vary
Survey of leaders shows differences over state policy
By Michael Hawthorne
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Improving education is the top concern among voters, yet achieving that goal is one of the toughest tasks facing Ohio leaders. A new survey of top government, education, business and community leaders suggests why.
Billed as “agreed upon goals” for improving the way schools are funded, the report commissioned by the Ohio Department of Education also highlighted sharp differences between state policies and the views of those questioned.
For example, the survey found a “clear consensus” that student achievement is the best way to determine if schools are adequately funded. But the cost of an adequate education determined by state lawmakers ($4,054), is significantly less than the average amount spent per pupil by schools considered effective by the state ($7,993).
“The issue is how you take these goals and make state policy acceptable to all the parties that have to sign off on it,” said Warren Russell, a lobbyist for the Ohio School Boards Association and one of the 58 survey respondents. “That's what always has held us up.”
Other responses to the
survey portend more political entanglements for Gov. Bob Taft and state lawmakers.
When the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state's school-funding system three years ago, the decision ordered state lawmakers to narrow the gap between rich and poor schools by reducing their historic reliance on local property taxes.
As long as property taxes provide more than half the amount of money spent on schools, critics say, schools in property rich districts will continue to spend far more than those in poor areas.
Yet most of those surveyed by researchers from Indiana University like property taxes because they are a stable and dependable source of money. It's the way the taxes are distributed that causes problems, respondents said.
“What's important is for us to lessen the dependence on property wealth, as opposed to lessening dependence on the property tax,” said one respondent, who like most of the others was promised anonymity by the questioners.
However, lawmakers have rejected alternatives, such as pooling property taxes and distributing the proceeds more evenly throughout the state.
Education and government leaders say they aren't sure where to go next until the court rules this spring on the changes made by lawmakers.
“We're trying to be flexible so we can react quickly when the decision comes out,” said David Varda, associate state superintendent for school finance and accountability.
In many respects, the survey amounts to a Reader's Digest version of the emotional and complex debate about how to improve both student achievement and the way schools are funded.
Top state leaders previously had criticized the Education Department for spending $316,000 to study new ways to fund schools while the state defends the current system in court. Now they think the survey and pending recommendations from state consultants could be helpful.
“We have a good base for schools, but there is always potential for improvement,” said Senate President Richard Finan, R-
Evendale.
Under the current formula, the cost of an adequate education was determined by averaging proficiency test scores, attendance rates and dropout rates in the state's top school districts. But lawmakers eliminated the richest and poorest schools from their calculations, thereby lowering the bottom line.
As state leaders consider changes, the survey advises them to ensure that schools have enough money to chose between “an adequate and a superb system of schools.”
Some respondents also suggested that students in urban areas would get better grades if they had more access to qualified teachers.
The Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, the group representing school districts that successfully sued the state, wants the Supreme Court to order lawmakers to provide more teachers with better pay, smaller classes, more materials and support staff in up-to-date classrooms.
State leaders have dismissed the plan as unrealistic. They estimate it would cost $5 billion a year.
“I think these goals they're talking about are no-brainers,” said William Phillis, the coalition's executive director. “But they have to be more specific if they want anything to work. And many of those things cost money.”
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