Much has been made of the recent RAND Corporation report, “California’s K–12 Public Schools — How Are They Doing?” and it’s appropriate that the report is getting so much attention. Its findings are critical to an understanding of where we are in public education in this state and where we need to go.
Rand is a nonprofit research organization that provides objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. In analyzing public school financing, the report puts our current situation in context. The portion on school finance bears citing in its entirety:
“California has fundamentally transformed its system of public school finance. In 1970, [Note: when the state’s reputation for educational excellence was at its height] public education in California was primarily locally financed. School districts set their own local property tax rates, subject to the approval of the voters. Districts raised more than half of their total revenues by taxing local property.
“Now, however, the state controls the vast majority of school district revenues. The school districts currently have few options for raising their own funds. . .
“Proposition 13, passed by California voters in 1978 (combined with Proposition 98, approved by California voters in 1988), has had significant consequences for K–12 public education funding. In general, K–12 real revenues and expenditures per pupil grew fairly rapidly in California and the United States until the early 1980s, and California’s per-pupil spending largely tracked that of the United States. But California fell well behind the other states in the late 1980s.
“Beginning in the mid-1990s, California steadily added to its education funding, as did other states, with an estimated real growth of 27 percent between 1994–1995 and 2001–2002. However, after several years of more positive finances, California’s schools are again confronting the challenges that go with severe budget constraints. . . .
“California school districts have experienced comparatively low levels of funding compared to funding in most other states. California’s schools have been further stressed by extreme fluctuations in real spending per pupil. These relatively low funding levels in California’s schools reflect comparatively low effort relative to the state’s capacity. The comparatively low funding afforded K–12 public education in California can be seen in the resources the schools are able to make available to their students. California continues to have the second highest pupil-teacher ratio of any state. And despite substantial progress in dealing with school facilities over the past 10 years, California continues to lag the nation in addressing K–12 facility needs. The combination of a student population with relatively great needs, relatively low funding levels, and relatively inadequate resources may have contributed to California’s comparatively low levels of student academic achievement. [Bold added for emphasis]…
“Moreover, the poor performance and often shaky financial condition of schools in even well off communities calls into question the fundamental adequacy of our school finance system across the board. [Note: See chart below.] To be fair, over the last seven years the state has attempted to address these problems by decreasing class size, providing money for teacher training, and holding schools accountable for student achievement. The result is that test scores have increased. But even with the gains, in the latest national assessments every group of our students (whites, Asian, Hispanic, and African American) fall below the national average for similar groups in other states. A different approach is needed.
“Coming up with more effective solutions will be the central charge of the new bipartisan California State Quality of Education Commission. It is our hope that this and other studies will help the fledgling Commission square our school accountability system with a new finance system that together provide the incentives and resources schools really need to help all California students meet the state performance standards.”
Those are the comments of the RAND report. Sadly, we have now learned that Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed disbanding the State Quality of Education Commission and replacing it with a committee of members he personally appoints. This proposal has caused great concern among the educational community, which saw the commission as a nonpartisan group of professionals ready to tackle a daunting task, outside the political arena. We will have to see what comes of the proposals.
