EdVocate West Blog
Accountability
Over the last several years, local education improvements have been imperiled by budgetary dysfunction at the state level. Because California’s leaders have failed to develop a stable long-term budget solution, and because they have depended on gimmicks and short-time budget fixes, the state faces a massive 18-month budget deficit of $25 billion.
The state’s education system has suffered an escalating series of budget cuts in recent years. However, in his January budget, Governor Brown spared K-12 education from over $2 billion in additional cuts, instead calling upon taxpayers to pass an initiative extending personal income and sales taxes, as well as the vehicle license fee rate, which are otherwise due to expire.
While we applaud the governor’s commitment to limiting education budget cuts, taxpayers deserve the assurance that their money will be spent wisely and on behalf of students. Over the past three years, too many school districts have cut learning time and programs and services for the state’s high-need students while maintaining salary, benefit, and pension levels for their longest-tenured employees. In fact, California’s teachers are the highest paid in the nation, even though per-pupil funding, when adjusted for labor costs, ranks in the bottom 10 percent. In a state where overall spending is low but salaries are high, students lose out.
Clearly, the state budget crisis requires us to be nimble with our existing resources and do more with less. While reductions in spending are looming, this must be done against a backdrop of accountability for performance and equitable funding for the state’s highest-need students. Educational reforms are possible in tough budget times, but our state leaders must first create the right incentives and remove barriers to change.
Our Recommendations:
1. Ensure Equitable Distribution of School Funding. California should shift toward a school funding system based on student needs. Such a system will allow for greater equity while also simplifying an overly complex and inefficient system, which currently results in broad funding variations between districts, even those with similar student demographics.
2. Publically Report Information on Spending and Resource Use. California needs to allow for transparency into the resource decisions made by districts, so that communities know where dollars are going. The state should highlight spending on personnel, including teacher salaries and benefits, student-to-teacher ratios, administrative costs, support services and class sizes. In particular, districts should be required to transparently share teacher expenditures on a per-school basis, providing data on “real” teacher salaries rather than average district pay ranges–the current practice in many districts. If high-need schools with less senior, lower paid teachers are receiving fewer total resources, the public ought to know.
3. Create Conditions for and Incentives for Performance. Districts and schools should be held accountable for student performance and improvement, particularly in struggling schools. Incentives can be as important as consequences, however, and strong student outcomes should lead to increased flexibility over how funds are spent at the local level. That way, schools and districts will be motivated to innovate and use human and financial resources more effectively on behalf of students.
Publications on Accountability:
