Scare the Parents

          School superintendents admitted to the Everett Herald that reducing the school year is “detrimental to students,” but because of budget cuts, Washington State officials are considering cutting the school year from 180 days to 170.  Once again, those who should be leading are using fear to motivate taxpayers into raising taxes.  Washington State spends $9,000 per pupil per year.  You would think that would be enough, but it never is. 

          Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association, the teacher’s union says, “We just can't cut any more. We have absorbed every cut we can possibly absorb.”  Does she really believe that education in Washington State is a lean, cost efficient operation?

          The Everett School Board has $3.1 million in cost over runs on their new building.  The board now expects the cost to be $26.4 million, but no students will be educated in this new structure, it is an administration building.

          The Darrington School Board fired their superintendent, Larry Johnson, in February, but they are still paying him his $117,000 salary and will be until at least this February, a year after they fired him.  Clearly, there are some costs that could be reduced. 

          Before we cut the school year, we should consider cutting school district salaries.  The Washington Policy Center notes that school employees account for about 83% of the total education budget or about $8.2 billion dollars.  They figure that if each employee took “a reduction in pay and benefits of just $42 a month, or .61%, this would mean a budget savings of $50 million.”  That is an impressive first step in solving the education budget gap.  However, as remarkable as that figure is, there are millions of dollars more that could be saved.  Here are just a few ideas. 

1.  Consolidate school districts.  Washington State has 285 school districts.  The Evaline School District near my home has one school and serves a mere 31 students.  While it is nice to have small districts they are perhaps a luxury we can no longer afford.  Consolidation would allow resources, including staff, to be shared and shifted as needs change.  If the Evaline district is economically viable then it should remain, but for those districts that are screaming they need more money, perhaps they should consolidate with neighboring districts. 

2.  Revoke the Salaries and Compensations Law.  People are the number one expense for any school.  RCW 28A.400.200 mandates uniform salaries for teachers in 283 of the 285 school districts.  The other two districts have higher salaries.  Why are legislators in Olympia telling districts from Wahkiakum to Whitman County what they can pay teachers?  Teacher salaries should reflect the area cost of living.  Seattle has a higher cost of living than rural Lewis County where I live, but right now, all teachers are paid the same. 

3.  Eliminate Educational Service Districts (ESDs).  I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of my readers didn’t know that over 30 years ago the state established nine ESDs to act “as a liaison between local districts and the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to deliver programs mandated by the state.”  As one ESD website proclaims they, “assure excellent & equitable education for all students through service and collaboration.”  I’m not sure what all of that means, but I’m absolutely certain that nowhere in it did it say “and teach children.”  If fact, I’ve never spoken to a classroom teacher who has been able to tell me what an ESD does.  Get rid of them.   

4.  Allow School Vouchers.  Washington State spends $9,000 per pupil per year.  If the state issued a voucher for that money then parents could use it to enroll their children in the best school that they could find.  Schools would compete for enrollment, and the accompanying money, by creating innovating and interesting educational programs.  However, unions have fought this plan from the start.  It is your money.

          We have more than 200 school districts in the state; why not allow them the freedom to explore these options with our tax dollars?

          The problem is not the budget or even the hard times we now find ourselves in.  The problem is leadership.  School boards and elected officials don’t want to explore ideas like those above because they require new paradigms and hard choices, but before we allow them to reduce school days or scare us into raising taxes, we should insist they explore all options and really do what is best for the children.

Disclosure note: Kyle Pratt works as a teacher in rural Alaska and splits his time between his homes in Eek, Alaska and Chehalis, Washington State.