California spends 9 percent less per student than the national average, says “High Expectations, Modest Means”, a report by the Public Policy Institute of California. And the spending gap is even larger, explains Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee.
. . . professionals with college degrees — including teachers — command a premium in salary in California compared to the rest of the nation. And so, to achieve the same level of resources as other states, California would have to spend 11 percent more than the average. The effective difference is thus 20 percent of the average of the other states, or $1,340 per student.
And California has needier students than in other states. North Dakota schools don’t have to worry much about students who don’t speak English.
Inflation-adjusted spending increased by 8.1 percent from 1990 to 2000, mostly to pay for smaller classes in kindergarten through third grade. But the results have been modest, at best.
High-poverty schools get more money — as much as $1,000 per student — than schools serving middle-class students. It doesn’t seem to buy better achievement, Weintraub points out.
It’s easy to say that, based on nationwide comparisons, California schools are underfunded. But as this study shows, it doesn’t make sense to throw more money at education without first seeing precisely how that money is going to help kids learn what they need to know to compete in a 21st century world economy.
A Quality Education Commission is supposed to work it all out.
Meanwhile, actor Rob Reiner and the California Teachers Association want to pass an initiative to boost commercial property taxes by 55 percent to fund pre-school and K-12 education. The tax hike could raise $4.5 billion, which would go into a special supplemental fund.
Unfortunately, as has been shown time and again (e. g., the District of Columbia Public School System) there is almost an inverse correlation between school funding and performance.
Let Rob Reiner’s tax initiative pass (good luck!), and the whooshing sound that will ensue will be every business that is physically capable leaving California. Someone ought require Reiner and the CTA to consult with Arthur Laffer at the Hoover Institute at Stanford about his now famous “Laffer Curve” regarding the effect of tax rates and the actual tax revenues generated thereby.
The single most important factor in the improvement of student performance is the subject matter knowledge of the teacher, and the teacher’s commitment to teaching the students. For all you Californians, can you say “Jaime Escalante”?
The Curmudgeon
There is no reason to raise taxes, the state has plenty of money but the legislature has chosen to take money from the schools to pay for whatever it is that they are paying for. Here are the gross numbers for the years ending June 30 from the state controller’s office (in billions):
Year……Revenues….Spending
1999…….$58.5……….$58.6
2000…….$72.2……….$64.5
2001…….$78.3……….$83.4
2002…….$66.6……….$80.4
2003…….$78.6……….$78.7
I haven’t had time to search the details of where all that spending went, but with revenues 34% higher than in 1999 there is no excuse for cutting in the schools. Note that the “economic slowdown” blamed for the state budget crisis only brought down revenues to 13% higher than 1999, and that 2003 had the highest revenues in state history.
Note also that 1999 was the year Gray Davis took office. A governor can’t be blamed (much) for an economic downturn, but he can be blamed for allowing state spending to increase 42% in only two years.
If Rob Reiner is involved, this plan is wrong-headed or even evil. Not helpful analysis, I know.
I know if I was the gov of Nevada I would be praying for the taxt to pass.
Ken, that sure looks like a 4-year, 34% spending increase to me. But what do I know, I was educated in California (and left partly because of high taxes).
John from OK, Ken is referring to the spending difference between 2001 and 1999. You are both correct, you’re just talking about different things.
Yeah, I should have been more clear on that one, it was the two years from 1999 to 2001 that was 42%. I was curious about earlier years also, but those weren’t posted online.
How about reducing the overhead one percent a year until 80% of ed money is spent in the classroom? Imagine how many homeless could be housed in the surplus buildings.
It doesn’t sound correct when you say that “Inflation-adjusted spending increased by 8.1 percent from 1900 to 2000….” Do you mean that it grew 8.1% per year in real terms over the century? Or maybe the baseline isn’t 1900, but some other year?
Ken: I assume from your post that the numbers are the State Education budget, and not the total Budget Authority authorized. Either way, here are some salient questions to be asked regarding Califirnia education spending:
1. How much of the funding is “Indirect Expense”; that is, costs of supervisory and staff personnel, amortization of infrastucture, purchase of supplies and equipment, and so forth?
2. How much is Direct Cost of teaching; that is, the salaries and fringe benefits of CLASSROOM teachers, NOT including “Aides,” “Curricuculum Specialists,” and similar staff weenies?
3. What is the overall State Labor Multiple (Item 1 divided by Item 2)?
If the result of the foregoing exercise yields a result of 2.75 or greater (and it usually does), you have an inefficient and counter-productive organization. The economic “law of diminishing returns” will be at work.
The Curmudgeon
I think I should have been more clear. What I posted was not education budget, it was total receipts and spending, specifically from the document “General Fund Cash Basis Report”, the first section “Statement of Cash Receipts, Disbursements, and Balances”.
No doubt the story is more complicated than these simple numbers, but bottom line is that state revenues have far outpaced inflation and population growth. Drastic overspending is the cause of the budget crunch. What I don’t see is any possible excuse for having to take money from schools.
For F.L.’s points: I don’t know, but I suspect the ratio is very high for schools. I haven’t had the chance to search specifics (has anyone else done this?) but I know that money directly for the classrooms has been cut (my wife works for the schools). What I don’t know is whether the total education budget has been cut, or if it is just becoming more top-heavy and the cutting is at the bottom (I suspect some of both).
The funding increase was from 1990 — not 1900 — to 2000. I’m going to fix it now.
What happened to all the money that went into class size reduction? How can you have small class rooms at the same time as few teachers?
Every election time, we vote a few billion $$ more for the schools. Where does it go?
Does anybody have info or links to bond issues in CA since Prop 13 passed?
Another tactic they’re using is getting the majority required to pass a tax increase lowered from 2/3 to just over 1/2.
I think one must be very careful about accepting the state’s figures for education spending. I recall an article a couple of months ago (did Joanne post it?) wherein one of the L.A. papers reported that, unlike most states, California’s school spending figures do not include some significant overhead items, especially those for construction and other infrastructure costs.
Further, I do not believe the cited spending on the schools includes bond issues, which are not “taxpayer expenditures (right).” A meaningful comparison with other states would necessarily include an analysis of how much this funding mechanism is used elsewhere.
I also agree with the comments re Rob Reiner and business. I never cease to be amazed at how many people in this state think our businesses have some sort of magical money tree.
Davis is gone. Now it’s time for the legislature.
My approach to statements about any government spending program has been “Somebody better keep an eye on the referee!”
Why do people keep spouting the mythology that California is a high-tax state? Based on percentage of income, Calif. was 19th among 50 states, and that ranking is likely to fall for this fiscal year as many other states, unlike Cal., raised taxes recently. And property taxes in Cal. are a joke. As Warren Buffet noted, he pays more property taxes for his modest ranch home in Nebraska than his $4 million property in Newport Beach. Large, savvy corporations in Cal. are paying next to nothing on their property taxes due to Prop. 13, and through control of the media manage to make it sound like any property tax reform in Cal. will result in throwing Grandma onto the street.
Dave: If California were as lightly taxed and regulated as you believe, the state would not be exporting businesses and midlle/upper middle class taxpayers to Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, and so on. I-25 north and south of Denver is in the midst of a major economic boom due to the relocation of former California firms (refugees?). To a minor degree, this is a matter of perception, but business executives DO NOT make such decisions lightly.
Last year, for the first time in its history, California had a net loss in the most productive demographic group, middle-aged, middle class families; i.e., the heart of its tax base. You would not believe what that can do to a community. After the “oil bust” in the late 70s and early 80s, what had been million dollar homes in Dallas were offered for $300,000 — if they could be sold at all. Guess what happened to tax revenues, especially since assessments lagged behind the market by several years!
Are you REALLY so sure that the overall combination of ALL taxes and regulations, particularly the environmental regulations, are such a minor burden on California’s economy?
The Curmudgeon
How likely is it that either Arnold or the voters are going to support an anti-business tax like this one?
These liberal clowns have no understanding of the election which just happened and are just going to walk into another door.
Jeff, I saw that article, too, but I don’t remember where. Every state decides how to calculate their per pupil spending, and none of them include all the expenses (which are paid from their General Funds). Actually, per pupil spending (when you count everything) is higher than generally published. It just looks better to keep it lower, but not too low, or you’ll be near Arkansas’s rate.
> Based on percentage of income
and ignoring many taxes, CA comes in at the middle of the pack. Include all of the money extracted by the state, county, and local govts and a much different story comes out.
In some sense, I’d hope that the folks in CA know that they’re lying when they say that CA is under-taxed. It would be more depressing if they were mind-bogglingly incompetent than if they were mind-bogglingly corrupt….
> And property taxes in Cal. are a joke.
Well, Dave, you and Warren Buffet may think property taxes in California are a joke, but I sure don’t—for one simple reason: the incredibly inflated cost of housing. With a median home price of more than 400K (yep, including the Central Valley and rural areas), the state gets an enormous amount of money from property taxes, even with Prop 13. To illustrate, the current market value of the crappy house in which I live is about 600K. My taxes are 4K per year. Yeah, the percentage may be low by national standards, but when you consider the house would sell for maybe 300K in just about any other equivalent community in the country, the state is getting a windfall just because of the price inflation. So don’t tell me the state doesn’t get sufficient property tax revenue. It just isn’t so.
The fact is, we must have Prop 13. Because of the inflated property values, a less-taxpayer-friendly property tax formula would put the state into a depression. Grandmothers would indeed be taxed out their homes, the very situation that prompted the taxpayer revolt that led to Prop 13. We already pay the lenders on average hundreds of dollars per month for housing than the rest of the country. Increased property taxes would be the straw that broke the old camel’s back.
I saw that recent article about our tax burden being 19th in the nation and I quite frankly find it hard to believe. Maybe just federal and state income tax. My county has an eight and one-quarter percent sales tax. Consider what people pay on a new car alone, not to mention everyday purchases. Then there are the other costs. We have gasoline prices averaging 30 cents per gallon higher than the rest of the nation. Regulatory costs are far higher. And on and on. It all adds up.
Messrs Olmstead and Freeman have it right. Take it from a native Californian: this state is in the dumper. And this middle-aged, middle-class guy will join the rest of them in departing as soon as possible. When weather is all you’ve got left, well…..
And, oh by the way, our schools get plenty of money. You want to see dysfunctional administration and management, come to California. I’m not saying my state invented it, but it’s being perfected here. I will not vote for Meathead’s tax initiative, nor will I ever vote for any change in Prop 13.
Jeff Wright: This is purely intuitive, but given your comments about “dysfuntional administration and management,” if you could ever pry honest cost data of the California school system(s), I suspect you would have a State Labor Multiple for education in excess of 4.00!
An aside: didn’t you just love it when college math instructors — particularly TAs — referred to the most absruse and convoluted points in a proof as “intuitively obvious”! Sort of equivalent to politicians referring to their favorite boondoggle as an “investment.”
The Curmudgeon
Mr Olmstead: I would not be surprised if your numbers aren’t pretty close to the truth. But of course we will never get honest numbers from anyone involved in our school system. Ever. And, yes, “intuitively obvious,” perfectly describes what I and what millions of other Californians believe about the state’s failures. Does anyone not understand why the Terminator will soon be our governor? Sigh. I cry for my native state, which has turned out to be the most egregious example of welfare run rampant in the U.S.
Haven’t heard from Dave yet. I’d like to sell him my house.
I agree with jeff - Prop 13 has saved many a widow and orphan. (Well, maybe that’s overstating the case, but the Prop is a significant factor here.)
Government runs out of money, they just raise taxes and keep spending. We run out of money, that’s tough.
And in education, we always seem to run from one “try this approach” to another, when the last one fails.
I do not remember an election in the past 15 or so years when there hasn’t been a bond issue for “education”. (I’m going to see what I can turn up on the CA gov web site.)
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