First Class Education

April 6, 2006, 9:47PM
65% plan to include librarians
Some criticized Perry's classroom spending proposal as putting sports before education

AUSTIN - Librarians will be included in a proposed definition of classroom spending for the new 65 percent rule, removing one of the biggest criticisms of Gov. Rick Perry's initiative.

Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley said Thursday that the inclusion "recognizes that librarians provide an important direct instructional service to students."

Lynn Moak, a school finance consultant to districts around the state, said "librarians inundated the education agency" with their concerns.

Last August, Perry ordered Neeley to create a new financial accountability system that included a requirement that 65 percent of a school district's budget be spent on classroom instruction. His executive order referred to the definition for classroom instruction that is used by the National Center for Education Statistics, the statistical arm of the U.S. Education Department.

Librarians and library costs are excluded under the NCES definition, while costs for football coaches and extracurricular activities are allowed. Houston Independent School District Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra was among many superintendents who criticized the definition as valuing football over libraries.

The proposed Texas rule counts teacher and teacher aide salaries, textbooks, computers and extracurricular activities as classroom spending. It excludes administration, maintenance and operating expenses, counselors, nurses, security and transportation.

"Gov. Perry made it clear from the beginning that he realized that one size does not fit all school districts and gave the Texas Education Agency some flexibility in designing this measure," Neeley said.

Texas schools last year spent an average of about 62 percent of their money on classroom instruction, based on the NCES definition. Perry said his directive would improve student performance, but many school officials said it might result in cuts to security and bus service.

A study released in November found that the so-called "65 percent solution" is not likely to raise student achievement.

Standard & Poor's analyzed data in Texas and eight other states considering a 65 percent classroom spending requirement. It found no significant positive correlation between the percent of funds that districts spend on instruction and the percentage of students who score proficient or higher on state reading and math tests.

The draft rule has a three-year phase-in period for districts to reach the 65 percent classroom spending level. If adopted after a public comment period, districts would be required to spend at least 55 percent on instructional costs in 2006-07, 60 percent in 2007-08 and 65 percent in 2008-09. Districts that don't reach 65 percent could take other steps to improve their financial accountability rating.

"This represents a pretty balanced response to the problems that school districts had with the measure and the desire by the political community to have the measure," Moak said.

He said the rule needs more flexibility for unusual circumstances, such as the doubling of utility rates that some districts may face this fall.

Choosing sports over libraries is only one battle brewing under Gov. Perry's 65% spending directive
Weighing the percentages

AUSTIN - The idea of freeing up billions of dollars for public education by requiring school districts to dedicate 65 percent of their budgets to the classroom sounds appealing.

Tax-conscious business leaders and voters across the country have embraced it as a way to more efficiently use existing funds to boost student test scores. Many school superintendents and teachers are opposed to the idea, saying it's nothing more than a gimmick that divides the education community.

As Texas education officials work to implement Gov. Rick Perry's directive that school districts use 65 percent of their funds in the classroom, a major study finds the spending target is not likely to raise student achievement.

Standard & Poor's analyzed data in Texas and eight other states considering instituting a 65 percent classroom spending requirement. It found no significant positive correlation between the percentage of funds that districts spend on instruction and the percentage of students who score proficient or higher on state reading and math tests.

"Interestingly, some of the highest-performing districts spend less than 65 percent, and some of the lowest-performing districts spend more than 65 percent. Student performance does not noticeably or consistently increase at 65 percent, or any other percentage spent on instruction," concluded the report.

Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley is trying to decide how to define "classroom spending" for Perry's rule. Districts will start phasing in the requirement during the 2006-07 school year.

Superintendents opposed to the 65 percent rule have focused on the Standard & Poor's report as another argument against the initiative.

"There's a danger inherent in adopting rules that sound good but have no statistical basis or significance," said David Anthony, superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, which spends more than 65 percent on classroom instruction.

Neeley's former school district, Galena Park, is an example of one that spent less than 65 percent in 2003 — the latest figures available from the Texas Education Agency — but was top-rated at the time.

"The 65 percent rule is an arbitrary figure. That percentage has no meaning on how effective a school district is," said Mark Henry, current superintendent of Galena Park. "Some school districts have to spend more on social services and security and those items might not be figured into the 65 percent rule."

Blessing from businesses

Staci Stanfield, a Galena Park spokeswoman, said the district spends extra funds on teacher training and curriculum development to address the needs of its student population, which is 24 percent non-English speaking. Although those investments have helped students succeed, they would not be counted as classroom instruction under a federal definition.

The idea of spending 65 percent in the classroom has been embraced by the business community and is gaining steam nationwide. It is being pushed by Patrick Byrne, the president of online retailer Overstock.com Inc. of Salt Lake City.

Byrne's money helped launch First Class Education, a nonprofit group that is spending millions of dollars to promote the issue through legislation and voter initiatives.

Tim Mooney, a spokesman for the group, said 65 percent spending mandates could be on the ballot in as many as 10 states this year.

"We anticipate this will be a multi-million dollar campaign nationally and perhaps a multi-million campaign in most of these states," said Mooney.

He would not disclose any other donors of the group. Byrne also supports school vouchers, but Mooney said classroom spending is First Class Education's only issue.

Business groups often support educational reforms as a way to avoid higher taxes to pay for schools.

According to First Class Education's Web site, if all states had spent 65 percent in the classroom during the 2001-2002 school year, an additional $14 billion would have been available for teachers and students.

"That's enough to buy every K-12 student in America a Dell desktop computer or hire 325,000 more teachers at $40,000 a year," the group states. "All without a tax increase!"

Standard & Poor's compared instructional spending allocations in 2003 to combined reading and math proficiency rates based on state tests.

Mooney offered a different comparison, using the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is given to representative samples of students. The top five states with the highest scores on the 2003 national assessment had the highest average percentage of classroom spending at 64.12 percent and the bottom five states that year had the lowest average percentage of classroom spending at 59.46 percent.

Bringing idea to Texas

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, initiated the idea in Texas last spring when he added it to an education reform bill. The legislation failed.

Wentworth said San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings football team, suggested the requirement.

"It looked like a good idea from a policy standpoint," said Wentworth. "I hear complaints from people about these Taj Mahal campuses and football stadiums. At the same time, superintendents say they don't have enough money to pay teachers more."

Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, which favors tax and spending limits, said the spending rule makes common sense.

"It amazes me that anybody in the educational community would say, 'More money doesn't equate to improved student performance.' But we want more money," she said, referring to superintendents' calls for billions of dollars in new state education spending.

Last August, Perry ordered the education commissioner to create a financial accountability system with the 65 percent requirement. In his executive order, Perry said "in order to maximize the academic achievement of Texas students, it is necessary to maximize the percentage of school funds that are directed toward instructional purposes."

But Paul Gazzerro, director of analytics for Standard & Poor's school evaluation services, said the so-called "65 Percent Solution" is not a "silver bullet" that will automatically lead to higher student test scores.

"If the idea of doing this is to raise student achievement, the evidence is not there right now, not in the empirical data," said Gazzerro.

Standard & Poor's school evaluation services is nonpartisan and designed to help policymakers, educators and parents understand relationships between achievement and investment. In addition to Texas, the study looked at Minnesota, Ohio, Louisiana, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, Arizona and Colorado, among a number of states considering a 65 percent rule. The study concluded that while the data do not support mandating a minimum instructional spending threshold, monitoring the percentage districts allocate to instruction can be a useful benchmark.

Defining the terms

Neeley, in a recent interview, said that she is probably several months away from publishing a rule. A key issue is what to count as an instructional expenditure.

Perry wants the definition used by the National Center for Education Statistics, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

NCES defines classroom spending to include salaries of teachers and teacher aides and supplies including textbooks and computers and expenses for extracurricular activities.

Non-classroom spending includes the principal and other administration, maintenance and operating costs, buses and food service. Salaries paid for counselors and librarians and money spent for teacher training also are not counted.

Bonnie Cain, superintendent of Pearland ISD, said if she could include money spent on staff development, her district could reach the 65 percent target.

"There's no better place to spend your money than training teachers," said Cain.

Outside expenses

Houston ISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said the district is facing uncontrollable expenses, including rising utility bills and fuel costs for buses and higher property insurance due to hurricanes.

"If I put 11 million new dollars into utilities, I'd have to identify another 22 million in new expenses on the instructional side," he said. "Any logical business person would understand the challenges districts will have concerning meeting this rule."

Saavedra said he doesn't like the NCES definition because it values football over libraries. He hopes that Texas writes its own standards for classroom expenses.

Neeley said she understands the superintendents' concerns, but there is value in having a national definition that would allow classroom spending comparisons from state to state.

It's a tough pill to swallow: reforming state taxes to increase the state's share of education funding. But it is clear public schools are ailing as test scores fall and many district rankings drop.

While education lobbyists clamored for as much as $6 billion to $8 billion more in education funding, the citizen group Americans for Prosperity in Texas believes that more money won't fix the problem. One symptom of the system's problems is fiscal mismanagement of existing education dollars.

Even the school finance lawsuit currently before the Texas Supreme Court has left taxpayers questioning how our education dollars are being spent. While school districts are using millions of tax dollars to sue the state for more tax dollars, the court heard that Socorro Independent School District justified a waterslide by claiming it lowered dropout rates.

SISD is a good example of misguided spending priorities. In addition to a waterslide, it has as many nonteaching staff as teachers and its "acceptable" academic rating isn't really acceptable to parents and taxpayers.

When is a waterslide considered to be educational? When it teaches us how education dollars are being wasted. And while property taxes are escalating, this is no time for public schools to be squandering dollars.

Houston Independent School District's superintendent was among those who recently said at a House Public Education Committee hearing in Austin that it was impossible to push more of the existing education dollars to the classroom. Superintendents across the state uniformly opposed reforms that provide fiscal transparency and put more dollars into the classroom. Mind you, HISD has more than 2,000 more nonteaching staff, representing clearly misplaced education spending priorities. And when numbers of schools in the district are rated academically unacceptable, it is clear reforms are needed.

HISD is not alone. Texas spending on instruction is below the national average. Texas schools' average classroom spending is 60.4 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, ranking Texas 29th in the nation. At 58 percent, HISD is spending even less than the state average on instruction.

This simple concept directs 65 percent of the existing education spending into the classroom, which includes all credit courses and enrichment programs.

Gov. Rick Perry has championed the "65 percent solution" and House Public Education Chairman Kent Grusendorf embraced the measure. But with the education bureaucracy lobby opposing it, the legislation didn't pass. So the governor is using executive order to put 65 percent into the classroom.

The move from 60.4 percent to 65 percent seems like small change. How much difference can 4.6 cents make? This small change will add up to big change in our schools. It would put $1.6 billion more a year into Texas classrooms without a tax increase.

The initiative has tremendous support. Polling found 77.5 percent of Texans surveyed support the 65 percent requirement on school districts; 91 percent support it after learning it would put an additional $1.6 billion into Texas classrooms without a tax increase; and 89 percent said they were more likely to support a candidate that supported the 65 percent requirement.

A survey by the Tower Institute conducted in January found 63 percent would consider increasing the percentage of money spent in the classroom, without any additional dollars added to the system, to be an increase in public education spending.

While support is widespread, strangely absent from efforts to put more of the funding in the classroom is the education lobby.

Students and teachers will benefit most from Texas schools spending 65 percent on instruction.

One would think teachers, frustrated with the pork-laden gravy train many superintendents have enjoyed, would be clamoring for the measure. But there has been no visible support from the education lobby.

One reason rests firmly on the shoulders of the taxpayer-funded lobbying by administrators, particularly superintendents. Texas superintendent salaries have grown as much as 77 percent in five years.

More than 200 Texas school districts are already spending 65 percent in the classroom. It is a realistic goal that would put our dollars where our priorities are in the classroom.

As Perry has said, "The measure of our success is not whether we provide more money for education but more education for our money."

Venable is former a White House liaison for the U.S. Department of Education and is currently Texas director for the citizen group Americans for Prosperity.

FIRST CLASS EDUCATION PRAISES GOVERNOR PERRY’S EXECUTIVE ORDER IMPLEMENTING “THE 65 CENT SOLUTION”

TEXAS POLL SHOWS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR EFFORT THAT PUTS $1.6 BILLION MORE INTO TEXAS CLASSROOMS WITHOUT TAX INCREASE

AUSTIN: Teachers and taxpayer, parents and students have been returned to the focus of Texas education, thanks to a new executive order by Governor Rick Perry. Through the bold leadership of Governor Rick Perry, Texas today joined Louisiana and Kansas in adopting First Class Education’s “65 Cent Solution,” a requirement that school districts allocate at least 65 cents on the dollar of education operational budgets for classroom instruction, as defined by the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Dr. Patrick Byrne is the founder and president of Overstock.com, one of America’s most popular internet retailers. A registered Independent, Byrne is a longstanding advocate of education reform and serves as the National Advisory Chairman of First Class Education.

According to the recently released annual accounting by the National Center for Education Statistics, Texas spends only 60.4% on classroom instruction – ranking Texas 29th among all states. Increasing the percentage of money going to the classroom to 65% would provide $1.6 billion more annually without a tax increase.

As defined by the NCES, classroom instruction includes teachers, classroom supplies, special education and second language instruction, arts, music and athletics. Whether teaching students to read a book, read Braille, read English, read music or read a football defensive pass pattern, it’s all counted as “in the classroom” under the NCES guidelines. Outside the classroom includes administration at the school and district level (the biggest single expense), transportation, food services, maintenance, and the myriad of external support personnel such as the counselors, advisors, and assistants. (Capital expenses for school construction or major renovations are under a separate budget.)

First Class Education’s 65 Cent Solution had been part of the reform measures sought by the Governor during both the regular and two special sessions of the Texas Legislature. Both the Texas House and Senate had supported its adoption, but without a final passage of the full education package, the 65 Cent legislation could not be enacted legislatively.

First Class Education also released Texas specific polling data that shows overwhelming support for the 65 Cent Solution:

The survey was conducted by CCA, the firm that accurately predicted the outcome in all 50 states in last year’s presidential elections.

Louisiana’s Legislature recently unanimously passed a resolution encouraging its State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to implement the 65 cent requirement. Kansas recently enacted the measure as a goal of the state as part of its education legislative special session. Arizona, Colorado, Ohio and Washington State will have initiative efforts to place the measure on the ballot in November 2006 and an additional half-dozen states are preparing for legislative referral of the measure to their 2006 general election ballot.

First Class Education worked closely with Americans for Prosperity/Texas pushing the 65 Cent Solution. Byrne said,

Note to all the school districts screaming over state Rep. Kent Grusendorf's education bill that would make them spend 65 percent of their money teaching only subjects that are tested on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills: Message received.

"It was stricter than we intended," Grusendorf, an Arlington Republican, said Wednesday. "Our goal is to direct more money into the classroom and not create so many jobs in central administration."

School districts have pelted Grusendorf and other state lawmakers with e-mail and phone calls in recent weeks predicting doom if the spending restrictions make the final bill. Many, including the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, have rallied parents to pressure legislators to change the bill. "This proposed amendment will devastate CFISD's quality comprehensive curriculum ... ," Cy-Fair Superintendent David Anthony wrote last week on the school district's Web site. "The legislators must hear from the voters in Cy-Fair ISD, not just the educators."

As it's written, the bill initially would prohibit school districts from devoting more than half of their budgets to anything beyond teaching core subjects: math, science, social studies and reading/English language arts. Beginning this fall, money for other curricula, such as fine arts classes or athletics, or school maintenance would have to come from the remaining 50 percent of the budget. The percentage of the budget devoted solely to TAKS-tested courses would increase five points each year until topping out at 65 percent in 2008-09.

Few, if any, school districts could meet that requirement without major cuts to other programs. Statewide, school systems would have to shift about $9 billion more into core academic courses to comply, according to an analysis by Moak, Casey & Associates, an Austin-based educational consulting firm.

The fast-growing Katy ISD would have to reallocate more than $55 million to meet the initial 50 percent requirement and nearly $100 million to hit the 65 percent mark, according to the firm's analysis.

Grusendorf, who chairs the conference committee trying to find a compromise between versions of the bill passed by the House and Senate, said the new bill likely will allow districts to count any classroom spending toward the 65 percent requirement. The special session ends Wednesday. "We'll include the entire curriculum," he said.

Local school officials said they're happy to hear that but remain concerned. They want a figure lower than 65 percent and credit for the money they dedicate to teacher training, curriculum development and other budget line items loosely connected to classroom instruction. "We have over 300 buildings that we're taking care of, a transportation system, infrastructure," said Bill Carpenter, assistant superintendent for governmental relations for the Houston ISD. "HISD is like a large corporation. ... To earmark that much of our budget for one function, even though everything in our district is geared toward supporting instruction, it would not allow the flexibility needed to make that possible."

Using the most liberal definition of classroom spending, HISD spends about 58 cents of every dollar on instruction, Carpenter said.

Though Republicans have agreed to soften the proposed spending restrictions, they remains committed to forcing schools to focus on classroom spending, said Rep. Rob Eissler, a former Conroe school board member from The Woodlands. "Over the years, so many different demands get put on school districts that occasionally they'll wander away from the true mission," he said.

Measure puts $1.6 billion into classrooms, minus tax hike
By: Jennifer Bendery - GALLERY WATCH
Date: 6/27/2005

AUSTIN (6/27/05) - With solid backing from Gov. Rick Perry and other key legislative leaders, two nonprofit groups today urged legislators to fully adopt "The 65 Cent Solution," which would put $1.6 billion directly into Texas classrooms without a tax increase.

The measure requires that every Texas school district spend at least 65 cents of each education dollar on classroom instruction, which includes teacher salaries, textbooks and classroom computers. The Senate had added the proposal to its education funding plan during the 79th Regular Session; Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) is expected to introduce a floor amendment this week to the current Senate education reform bill.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and First Class Education pitched "The 65 Cent Solution" on the heels of recently released data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicating that Texas ranks 29th among states, spending 60.4 percent on classroom instruction. Increasing the percent of money going to the classroom to 65 percent would provide $1.6 billion more each year without increasing taxes.

"There is no reason we should have almost one non-teaching staff for each teacher in Texas," said Peggy Venable, Texas director of AFP. "As Texas taxpayers spend more money on education, a smaller percentage is being spent in the classroom." She pointed out that Round Rock ISD spent 2 percent more on instruction two years ago than they do now. "We are moving in the wrong direction," said Venable.

The AFP director noted that it is "particularly ironic" that West Orange Cove ISD, the lead plaintiff in the Robin Hood school finance lawsuit, spends "a pitiful 32 percent on instruction, according to TEA."

The "65 Cent Solution" is part of a national campaign led by First Class Organization, a newly formed organization aimed at requiring every school district in the country to spend at least 65 cents of education budgets in the classroom. "Texas is poised to be the first state to fully implement" the plan, said Tim Mooney, general consultant to the organization. Texas can send a clear message that "teachers and students are Texas' first education priority," he said. Mooney emphasized that the proposal "makes sense" because Texas taxpayers "want local control, but every parent and taxpayer should demand statewide accountability."

First Class Organization released its own Texas-specific polling data that show strong support for "The 65 Cent Solution." Among the poll's findings were that 77 percent of Texans supported the plan; 91 percent supported the plan after learning it would bring an additional $1.6 billion in classrooms without a tax increase; and 89 percent said they were more likely to support a candidate that supported the 65 percent requirement.

Other states considering the plan include Louisiana, which recently passed a resolution encouraging its State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to implement the proposal, and Minnesota and Kansas, which are considering the measure as part of their special session on education.

Perry applauded the proposal, stating that he is a strong supporter of plans "to reduce administration costs and direct more education money to the classroom." He noted that his education reform plan calls for nearly two out of every three education dollars going to classroom expenditures. Touting the measure in his current radio ads, the governor emphasized that the school finance debate should "should not just be about the total amount of money spent on education, but how every dollar is spent."

Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington), chair of the House Public Education Committee, said the "65 Cent Solution" ensures that Texas taxpayers will receive a better return on their investment in the future. This provision was "inadvertently left out of the filed version" of HB 2, he said, but it was an item agreed to by conference committee members during the 79th Regular Session. As such, Grusendorf said he plans to add the provision "as a technical correcting amendment" to HB 2.

Click here to view an overview of the First Class Education proposal.

Click here to view an outline of instructional costs by Americans for Prosperity.

FIRST CLASS EDUCATION, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY/TX ANNOUNCE 65 CENT PLAN LEGISLATIVE FOR TEXAS CLASSROOMS

NEW POLL SHOWS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR EFFORT THAT PUTS $1.4 BILLION MORE INTO TEXAS CLASSROOMS WITHOUT TAX INCREASE

AUSTIN: Amid Texas Legislators meeting in Special Session to reform the way schools are financed, growing support and new poll data suggest Texas may become the first state to fully adopt what’s dubbed “The 65 Cent Solution.”

First Class Education and Americans for Prosperity/Texas are pushing a requirement that every Texas school district spend at least 65 cents of each education dollar on classroom instruction for such items as teacher salaries, textbooks, classroom computers and other activities that directly impact students. The plan is also favored by Governor Rick Perry who touts the measure in radio ads currently airing.

“Putting more money in the classroom will help students and teachers,” said Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity (AFP). "There is no reason we should have almost one non-teaching staff for each teacher in Texas."

According to the just released annual accounting by the National Center for Education Statistics, Texas ranks 29th among states, spending only 60.4% on classroom instruction. Increasing the percentage of money going to the classroom to 65% would provide $1.6 billion more annually without a tax increase.

“As Texas taxpayers spend more money on education, a smaller percentage is being spent in the classroom,” said Venable. “Two years ago Round Rock ISD spent two percent more on instruction than they do today. We are moving the wrong direction. It's time we direct more of our education dollars to the classroom.”

The 65 Cent Solution is part of a national campaign led by a newly formed organization, First Class Education. Said its General Consultant Tim Mooney, “Texas is poised to be the first state to fully implement the 65 Cent Solution and by doing so Texas will send a clear message that their teachers and students are Texas’s first education priority.”;

First Class Education also released Texas specific polling data that shows overwhelming support for the 65 Cent Solution:

The survey was conducted over the weekend by CCA, the firm that accurately predicted the outcome in all 50 states in last year’s presidential elections.

Louisiana’s Legislature recently unanimously passed a resolution encouraging its State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to implement the 65 cent requirement. Minnesota and Kansas are considering the measure as part of their education legislative special session and Arizona, Colorado, Ohio and Washington State have initiative efforts to place the measure on the ballot in November 2006.

Said Mooney, “Spending more of our precious education tax dollars ‘in the classroom’ simply makes sense." We want local control, but every parent and taxpayer should demand statewide accountability.”

Continued Venable, “It is particularly ironic that the lead plaintiff in the Robin Hood school finance case, West Orange Cove Consolidated ISD, spends a pitiful 32% on instruction, according to TEA.” AFP launched a campaign “More education for our dollars” two years ago in an effort to direct more education dollars to the classroom.

The State Senate had added the 65 Cent Solution to its earlier education funding plan and State Senator Wentworth is expected to introduce a floor amendment this week to the Senate education funding legislation.

For more information about First Class Education: www.firstclasseducation.org For more information about Americans for Prosperity: