Notes from the Prichard Committee Fall
2012 Meeting at UK.
On
a couple of occasions today it seemed that Prichard Committee Executive
Director Stu
Silberman
was a apologizing to members because the meeting was not more uplifting. But I
guess that's what you get when early childhood education and the Kentucky tax
structure are on the agenda. Both are presently stymied by legislative
inaction.
Prichard
Chair Harvie Wilkinson piled on when he told of two of his daughter's friends
who graduated UK with 3.7+ GPAs and a tank full of ambition. They wanted to be
teachers. But after two years in a high-poverty elementary school, under
today's conditions, with little support, no mentoring, no professional
development, 30ish kids, and no time to do what they have been asked to do,
they are seeking a new profession. Harvie asked Fayette County Superintendent
Tom Shelton what he would say to them and Tom was honest enough not to contrive
some BS on the spot. There's really not a lot anyone can say to refute what
they must be feeling. The work has never been harder, the standards higher, or
the resources spread so thin since the late 20th century reform movement began.
"We talk about cuts while the
needs keep growing," Shelton said. "Our greatest resource is our
teachers...and that's the place where investment needs to take place."
Shelton reported that since the 2008 recession FCPS students have moved above
50 percent on free and reduced lunch...78 percent for students of color.
Dr
Ruth Ann Shepherd presented a ton of data and research on early childhood
education and why educators should care about the state's HANDS Home Visiting
Program. I could not help but notice how closely the research mirrored that
presented by Paul Tough in his new book How Children Succeed. We have a
school system that is necessarily based on the attainment of cognitive skills,
yet IQ and high test scores are not the things that correlate most highly with
success in life. Those are non-cognitive skills closely related to good
parenting and most easily and effectively taught when children are very young.
The
bulk of the afternoon was spent discussing money. Former "Cassidy
Dad" and UK Economics Professor Bill Hoyt taught a lesson on taxation that
I am not particularly qualified to relate, but I'll take a swing at in the form
of loose notes in bullet points. Bill is a consultant for the Governor's Blue
Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform which is chaired by Lt. Governor Jerry Abramson
who also spoke to the group about the
process. (The short story is: don't expect a bill before 2014. Since the
upcoming short session would require a super-majority to enact any budgetary
measures and heavy lifting will likely be required to gain even a simple
majority...it's not going to happen.)
From Hoyt's point of view:
- How taxes are collected is the question.
- Opinions differ
- Bill thinks it’s as much about how we tax as it is how much
- Tax what?
- Some ways are more efficient than others.
- Some ways reduce competitiveness.
- Part of the trick is to lower the cost associated with collecting taxes - be more efficient.
- Committee Charge
- Adequacy (are taxes sufficient to meet state goals) and elasticity (revenues track the economy) are central issues along with...
- Fairness
- Simplicity
- Competitiveness
- Other concerns
- Efficiency
- There is a kind of cost/benefit ratio at play.
- Taxes distort prices
- Create a wedge between pricing and value
- How can the state minimize the impact taxes have on purchasing decisions?
- Stability
- The present system held up well in last 4 years essentially because it was outdated and didn’t respond as strongly to hits taken by the most active part of the economy...but it won't be stable going forward
- Present system has low elasticity
- Tax Structure
- In Kentucky collections are centralized
- Ky is more reliant on income tax than most states
- Slightly less on sales tax
- We have low property tax...for the most part (House Bill 44 sucks [my words not Bill’s])
- Among competitor states, Ky ranked 2nd in state tax at 7.3% of income
- But ranks 10th in combined state and local tax
- Adequacy & Elasticity
- The present structural imbalance will leave the state $1 billion out of whack by 2020
- Revenue will decline to 6.5% a level not seen since 1968.
- Kentucky revenues are below average compared to our most competitive states
- Kentucky’s spending on Public assistance and Medicaid is above average
- State and local spending on K-12 Education is below average of competitive states
- “Despite demonstrating the highest growth rate in state and local education spending from 2001 to 2009, Kentucky ranks 10th and 12th respectively in elementary and secondary education spending as a percentage of personal income and per capita.”
- Kentucky ranks 4th in state and local funding of higher education
- Spending is above average in transportation and corrections
- Equity Concepts
- Vertical equity...fairness in treatment of individuals
- Horizontal equity...folks with similar income levels ought to pay similar percentage
- Economic incidence...who actually pays (i.e., taxes paid by gas station..but cost passed along to buyer)...or pushed back to labor
- Businesses never pay taxes. Only people.
- Competitiveness
- In what ways do taxes affect business?
- Ky ranks third in business taxes as a percentage of private sector gross state product for 2011
- Studies show Ky with 4th lowest tax rate affecting business
- Policy Options
- Not simply a menu: Some are minor, others major, some are mutually exclusive, others most effective when used in certain combinations
- Advantages are seen in a broadened tax base
- More elastic
- Lower rates for all
- Reduced inefficiencies
- Should reduce differences in tax treatment
- Increase Ky’s competitiveness and employment
- Reduce compliance costs
- Other Random notes
- State earned income tax credit?
- Make taxable income equal to adjusted gross income?
- Tax base no longer matches what we consume?
- Residential use of electricity?
- Avoid using tax of purchases from business to business due to tax pyramiding.
- Can't yet tax Internet purchases..Perhaps Ky should support federal legislation allowing it.
- Lot of concerns on cross border shopping in Louisville and N Ky.
- Corporate income tax...controversial...but only a small chunk of the state budget...6%.
- Most states use: sales, capital, employment...taxes
- Kentucky could permit a local sales tax.
- Dump HB 44…because it sucks (my words not Bill’s)
- Occupational license tax puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
- Sales tax on services?
- Luxury item tax? Country club..golf..limos...?
To
explore the impact at the school level the committee heard from Tom Shelton,
Madison Southern HS Principal David Gilliam, Carter Co. elementary school
teacher Merry Berry, Danville HS senior Alex Burnside and John Hayek, Sr VP for
Budget and Planning at CPE.
Again,
loose notes:
·
Tom
Shelton...
·
the
real issue we haven is adequacy. Equity issues result from lack of adequacy.
·
Districts
forced to cut back on maintenance..busses..central office staff...running out
of places to cut...people and classrooms are next.
·
Cuts
in ESS, PD, Safe Schools impact kids...the impending fiscal cliff and
sequestration loom.
·
Money
cut but no expectations have been reduced.
·
As
Council for Better Education Chair Shelton says the state has shirked their responsibility...cities
responding with higher local taxes to cover...
·
When
Shelton was in Daviess Co. there was a 9-point swing in funding between local
and state...shift burden to local taxpayers
·
The
SEEK formula is designed to provide equity to [poor districts. When cuts came,
the poorest districts in state got the biggest cuts.
·
Early
childhood has to be part to the conversation
·
Ability
to use funds flexibly helps..capital funds for maintain..insurance..federal
stim funds to prep lace busses
·
When
legislators cut funding but keep expectations high, it's like talking out of
both hides of your mouth
·
David
Gilliam Madison Southern HS…
·
..Flex
focus funds significantly reduced...not icing on cake...money was used for interventions
to close gaps.
·
Essential
school services...innovation...district support to schools dried up...partial
salaries on additional staff...encumbered council allocation.
·
You
ask teacher what do you need...the biggest answer from teachers was PD
·
...And
time
·
Looking
at online PD to reduce costs
·
Alex
Burnside...
·
I
see all of my teachers are stressed more..
·
Larger
classes..
·
I
can’t get the one-on-one help I used to get freshman year."
·
We
don’t have French any more
·
I
haven't talked to my counselor at all this year about college. He's too busy
doing ACT...
·
I
haven’t had a new textbook.
·
We
need counselors. I ask my mom..but there are things she knows and things she
doesn't ...things change.
·
Merry
Berry...
o
class
size is a problem...
o
There
is less help for subjects like art.
o
Youth
services have been “cut down to the nub.”
o
Basic
necessities now come out of our pockets...shoes for kids...
o
We
share textbooks..nobody at the 5th grade can teach social studies or science at
the same time...textbooks can’t go home.
o
It's
beyond me now. It's down to hurting those 36 kids in that classroom..which
shouldn't be 36.
·
John
Hayek...
·
1970
full year tuition was about $300..if you had a minimum wage job...during the
summer you could pay for a full years tuition in 6 weeks.
·
Making
minimum wage today it would take about 35 weeks to repay a year of tuition.
·
K-12
and higher Ed lost 500 million in the recent cuts.
·
KEES
money frozen at $2000...
·
Need
based grants are about $100 million short.
·
Need
to keep reform momentum going.
·
Teachers
are doing more with less.
·
Higher
Ed is producing twice the number of degrees as a decade ago.
·
Education
is labor intensive..Highest skilled professionals in their discipline...benefit
structure is pretty good...tech driven ..rising cost of health care, benefits.
·
$4000
less per FTE...
·
Stu
Silberman
o
Need
tolook at a blended technology model..generating dollars for $100,000 salaries...fewer
teachers more students at once
o
Kentukcy
now lacks the teacher supports that we're present when Ky moved from 48th to 34th.
o
Teachers
support more rigorous studies for our kids...but they don't have the
support they need.
5 comments:
I suspect that we are moving toward entrenchment and constriction (if not down right non compliance) to the point that those who "lead" (legislators, government agencies) at the state and national level will become less relevant as local folks will make decisions which run counter to those leaders and the operational parameters they are suppose to be answering in order to serve their own community needs. Equally, with growing reductions in state funding and increased fiscal responsibility being placed on local communities, more will come to question why we even care what Frankfort or Washington are saying when they can't put their money where their idealized, regulatory mouth is.
Economy isn't going to suddenly perk up dramatically, government can continue to spend money it doesn't have and changing leaders or even tax codes won't substantially address the needs which continue to grow.
Not trying to be doom and gloom, but I think we all can see the writing on the wall. I don't know if that means the divestiture of education as a governmental responsibility, the evolution of two systems where by the haves and have nots exist in two different calibre of systems or even a rationing of educational resources, similar to other nations so that not all students have access to all opportunitites based upon some sort of ability determination.
Our legistlature has created regulations (Senate Bill 1) which mandate expectations that weren't atainable during the best of funding conditions much less with current economic climate. Our commissioner has used it to justify a system which in a couple of days is going to tell 70% of Kentucky's parents that their schools need improvement (as will they do the same next year and each successive year there after). As in the past the state accountability tail is wagging the state's public school dog, except this time we don't have enough to feed either so we are cramming resources in proximity nearer the tail than the other end where the mouths and brains of our kids are located.
Effective leaders respond to conditions which exist, not conditions which they want to exist or by ignoring the realities of their environment. Someone needs to alert the commissioner that he has no pants, regardless of what the jesters in the legislature may be saying to the contrary.
I'm sorry the two girls, presumably wealthy white girls, the friends of H. Wilkinson had to leave teaching. Welcome to teh real world.
Think of those of us who have been trained to do nothing else. We also are bneing asked to move mountains and do more without any time to do it.
October 31, 2012 1:01 PM: You are seeing something different than I am. I see the highest levels of federal involvement in K-12 education in history. In Higher Ed I'd agree more...where the state is getting out of the higher ed business because they are afraid to tackle a real tax reform, one that increases revenues.
I agree that economic recovery will be slow coming. I think Obama (and the Republicans) should be faulted for not telling the American people how deep a hole we were (and still are) actually in. Neither candidate for president will bring about rapid economic recovery. There is still too much bad debt on the books and not enough people fully employed to bring it about.
We agree that a move toward privatization of education is also a move toward a bifurcated system...and accountability is trumping instruction these days.
November 1, 2012 7:10 AM: Hummmm. I asked Harvie about the girls and he said they weren't kids I knew from the neighborhood, so I don't have any evidence to support a judgment on them other than that they wanted to teach. I suppose we can conclude the teachers were at least rich enough to take out a college loan.
Should we be more concerned with the plight of certain teachers? I think there's reason enough to be concerned about the working conditions for all teachers regardless of any other factors. I don't see any advantage to dividing teachers along economic lines.
I assume their world inside the school was as real as that of anyone else.
But your central point echoed through the Prichard Committee. Today's teachers are being asked to do more than any prior generation of teachers - and they are being asked to do it on diminishing resources in the midst of a very public attack on the whole system. I believe FCPS folks would have felt supported by Dr Shelton's message to the group.
Thanks for the comments.
So what? Much of what is being said here by all these important folk could have been harvested in the faculty breakroom or local cafe.
What are we going to do about it?
Yes, and it was being kicked down the road twenty years ago by the legislature. What, indeed, are we going to do about it? It seems to me that legislators need to hear from teachers (and their supporters) about this issue. They will need political cover from certain powerful business interests in order to find their political will.
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