Where are our educational dollars going?

            Do you know where your educational dollars are going? Most people assume, and with good reason, that the property taxes and other taxes that contribute to education that we all pay do go to fund public education. Whether you have children of school age or no children at all, the allocation and spending of our hard-earned money on education should be a concern to us all. In the U.S. we believe in a free public education for every child, as that is what is most likely to help students grow up and become productive, tax-paying citizens like the rest of us. If we do not teach children well, they can and often do become a burden on society. It is much cheaper to educate children well and get them a high school diploma than it is to have them in and out of correctional institutions all their lives.

            No Child Left Behind has forced us to spend our education dollars on testing services that give us a one-day, one-shot look at what students know on a multiple-choice exam. These testing companies, such as NCS Pearson, Inc. are private companies taking money out of the general education fund for this one day test. Did you know that the new STAAR test that will replace TAKS cost nearly $1 billion just to develop?! On top of that, NCS Pearson charges Texas schools nearly $95 million per year (up from $9.5 million per year in 2005) just to administer and grade the standardized tests, which unavoidably contain some flaws in their construction and wording. This causes us to wonder if the tests actually measure what they are supposed to measure. How much of a difference would it make if we were to spend that money on resources, teachers, and buildings for our public schools?

            With the progressively higher passing rates on the standardized tests every year (which are unattainable and unrealistic goals), schools that provide services in their communities are being labeled as failures and this is being used to rationalize the closing of schools. What are these neighborhoods going to do? Most Americans cannot afford to send their children to private schools, so closing the neighborhood school does little to help most of us.

            NCLB is resulting in the privatization of public education in more ways as well. This includes money being spent on test-prep programs that do not teach the students any of the content knowledge but instead how to answer specific types of questions, boring materials to help students prepare for the test, as well as Supplemental Educational Services required by NCLB. All of these programs and projects take money directly out of our education fund and puts it directly in the hands of private, for-profit businesses.

            Where have we gone when we are willing to spend millions, indeed billions, of dollars on a one-day, one-shot test but we cannot agree to educate all of our children equally? These private companies are sucking money out of our already meager and underfunded education funds and they do not make education any better. The standardized testing reform movement, like many educational reforms, has not delivered as promised. We, as a society, owe it to our children to take a step back and see if our children are benefitting from the privatization of education. If not, as concerned citizens, we should start a discussion as to what the next steps towards improving the education system in our local communities and states should be, including all shareholders. No one group or body should make all the decisions that affect us all.

Flawed Education Expectations

            Even with more money being put into education nearly every year, there are other factors to consider when determining if education is being successful. Expecting massive growth rates every year in knowledge from our students is both unfair and unrealistic. Yes, we have increased the amount of spending on public education nearly every single year, and yes, sometimes we show no growth in knowledge on standardized tests (which is not a fair indicator). But we tend to forget that every year the population of the United States grows by 3 million people each year and that prices for all items rise every year, making each educational dollar go a shorter distance.

            Every single year more students are entering our nation’s public school system. To expect teachers, administrators, and school boards to not only educate more students every year, but to show gains in subject areas on flawed indicators such as standardized tests, is ludicrous and unfair. The vast majority of individuals in education are not in it for the money—let’s face it, there are literally hundreds of jobs that are more lucrative and less demanding than being a teacher. Instead, these people care about our students and want to teach them to be the best they can be.

            It is not realistic for businesses to grow in profitability and show gains like we expect in education. Of course, we have seen it in numerous examples, which includes ENRON, WorldCom, AIG, and Bear Stearns, businesses in which they had to show more and more growth for their stockholders and ended up costing not just their employees lots of money, but taxpayers as well.

            What we need in education is realistic expectations that are formed by all concerned parties. This includes parents, students, teachers, administrators, staff, and legislators. For any one group to try to tell everyone else what needs to happen and to set up expectations and sanctions based on that one viewpoint is absurd and goes against our democratic origins. While the issues surrounding education are wide-ranging and include more than budgets, the cost of education is a main focal point for much of our population, especially those with simple messages.

            We should expect our schools today to teach our students both knowledge and skills. We should hold each other accountable as well as schools for the education of the nation’s children. We are all a part of this and the education of our children has very real consequences for everyone involved. Let’s come together to have a frank discussion of realistic and attainable expectations after we have asked for background information first for a change.