I recently had someone ask me which states have good school finance systems. I admitted I don’t really know but then my answer came out, “Almost any system will work if there is enough money.” The Proposal A system worked fine through the 1990’s when we were receiving adequate, in retrospect even generous, funding. For you old-timers who remember Proposal A’s predecessor, the Bursley Formula, it too worked fine when there were adequate resources.
But we’re in a different time now and resources aren’t adequate. Further, we aren’t likely to be receiving significant funding increases any time soon, in fact if nothing else changes, we’ll be fortunate to hold even with inflation and/or avoid cuts.
I was a lobbyist before Proposal A passed and from my perspective it was a huge improvement over the prior system. But nearly 15 years have passed and the underlying circumstances have changed, as has our economy. It is time to create a new system.
Drawing from the academic literature about school funding there are four main principles of a good school funding system (PEAS principles):
- Predictability – The ability of schools to know with reasonable advance notice what their funding will be for the coming school year or years.
- Equity – Funds are distributed to enable all districts to have the financial resources to offer similar educational opportunities for their students, taking into account differences between individual districts.
- Adequacy – Assuring that the amount paid by state government to local districts is sufficient to providing a high quality education. At the minimum, that which is required by state and federal law and regulations.
- Stability – The assurance that once committed, the funds will be provided consistently and without interruption.
These principles may be ideals but are certainly not wildly farfetched. It is commonly accepted, that for many good reasons, education is the most important endeavor of the state. Policy makers are regularly and rightfully asking educators to strive to improve teaching and learning. Shouldn’t they be held to a similar standard when it comes to crafting laws to fund education? Shouldn’t they be striving to improve our system of funding public schools?
Now for an unpleasant dose of reality. Given these economic times, schools cannot expect to receive significant additional funds and simply continue doing what they are doing and doing it the same way. We have to change.
What is the answer? Nothing is simple…a transition to a new funding system, and new ways of educating students are complex and will take time. But like the proverbial journey of a thousand miles, it won’t start without that first step forward.
A possible starting point is beginning to take shape in Lansing. MSBO, the Tri-County Alliance, MASA, MASB, and Middle Cities have been working together on the framework of a school funding and reform study. The study would examine our current system both for educating students and funding schools, and would make recommendations through the Michigan Department of Education to the legislature.
Why do we need a study? Most importantly we need a study in order to bring the legislature, MDE and the interest groups together at the same table for serious discussion and goal setting. Of course, we could offer our own suggestions without a study but the process of conducting a study provides:
- credibility that comes from engaging outside, objective experts;
- common understanding among the players; and
- information that can be used as a blueprint for improving our education system.
As currently conceived, such a study would cover areas such as the use of technology to enhance education while reducing costs, the value and place of pre-school programs, enhancing the structure of how education is provided, and of course, how Michigan should fund our pre-school through grade 12 system. Using the PEAS principles articulated above would be a good start from my perspective.
Such a study takes on added importance in the world of legislative term limits. By the time legislators have developed the expertise and relationships to take on serious changes such as those needed in our education funding system, their time is up! If the legislature will participate in this study as a partner with MDE and the school associations, perhaps we can institutionalize what we are doing to go beyond individuals, affected by term limits.
I wish this was easier. I wish we had the resources to fund education without having to resort to a study or any other mechanism to replace a broken system. But the political system and our economic realities do not permit it. We need to gather people with diverse viewpoints together to reach a consensus on how to improve what we are doing in classrooms and how we fund it. Hopefully by working together in a thoughtful way, we can avoid the “Government by Crisis” approach we’ve endured for the last few years.