Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Initiative would divert more money to classes
Under plan, at least 65% of funds go to instruction

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A stay-at-home dad and former high-tech executive is leading an initiative that would require Washington school districts to spend 65 percent of their budget in the classroom.

The initiative, which was filed last week, is part of a national movement called First Class Education. Based in Washington , D.C. , the movement since last March has been working to get similar proposals passed in every state.

The language of the initiative has not yet been approved by the secretary of state, but the proposal calls for changing state law to require each school district to spend at least 65 percent of its income from all sources on classroom instruction, beginning in the 2007-08 school year.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports Washington state ranks 38th in the nation for classroom spending, with 59.5 cents per dollar spent on instruction. First Class Education estimated the state would need to move an average of 5.5 cents of every school budget dollar -- or about $400 per student -- into classroom spending each year to meet the 65 percent goal.

If instructional spending is below 65 percent in the 2006-07 school year, districts would have several years to reach the goal by increasing classroom spending by at least 2 percent a year. The proposal would allow the superintendent of public instruction to waive the requirements for any district that requests a renewable one-year exemption.

Classroom instructional spending is defined in the proposal as including teacher and aide pay, textbooks, distance learning expenses, field trips and supplies. The initiative excludes construction costs, principal salaries and interest payments on debt.

Twelve other states are considering similar proposals, according to First Class Education. Texas has a new spending rule enacted by Gov. Rick Perry's executive order. Resolutions supporting the idea, but not establishing a rule, have passed in Kansas and Louisiana .

Brian Janssen, 40, of Seattle said he first heard about First Class Education last spring when he read a newspaper column about the organization. He called to ask how to get the process started in Washington .

"The idea appeals to me as a citizen and a taxpayer and as a parent," said Janssen, who grew up in Spokane and attended public schools. His parents were both public school teachers. "I don't think that kids, in general, are being extremely well-served by today's public education system."

After graduating from Dartmouth , Janssen worked a few years at Microsoft before starting Onyx Software Corp. in 1994. He left the company in the late 1990s to stay home with his kids, now ages 2, 4 and 6. He is also involved in various philanthropic causes and is on the board of the Seattle Aquarium.

He said the First Class organization has grass-roots support in Washington , and some signature gathering will be done by volunteers and some by paid workers. Janssen said they first tried to get the idea proposed as a bill in the Legislature, but could not get a sponsor.

The next big initiative?
Requiring 65% of school funds to go to classroom

Deirdre Gregg
Staff Writer (Business Journal)

Frustrated with the seemingly high overhead costs associated with public schools in this country, parents in many states have banded together to demand that at least 65 percent of every education dollar be spent directly in the classroom.

Their next target: Washington.

Brian Janssen, a full-time father of three small children in Seattle, is leading an early effort to develop an initiative that would require each school district to devote 65 percent of its funding to in-the-classroom activity, as defined by the National Center for Educational Statistics .

Known as First Class Education, the nationwide movement seems to be gaining momentum. Proposed laws or referendums are being considered in more than a dozen states, and some form of the requirement has been enacted in three of those states.

Washington currently spends about 59.5 percent of education funding on in-classroom instruction, based on NCES definitions. That is below the national average of 61 percent, according to the national center, which is a federal agency within the Department of Education.

A 65 percent requirement could mean an additional $390 million or more going into the states' classrooms without a tax increase, according to the national movement's Web site.

Such a change wouldn't come pain-free, of course. A pure conversion of resources likely would require redirecting funds that now go to areas such as administration, transportation or other services.

Washington state's own figures contradict the NCES numbers. According to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 69.3 percent of the budget, or more than $5 billion, was spent on teaching and teaching support in the 2002-2003 school year.

The statistical variation appears to reflect a definition of "in-the-classroom" activity that differs from that of the NCES. The NCES in-classroom figures, for example, don't include expenses for principals, principals' offices, full-time department chairs, nurses or librarians; these are considered part of support services rather than instructional expenditures.

The Washington Education Association , the union that represents public school teachers and other employees, points to the state figures and describes the 65 percent approach as a simplistic solution that won't address schools' real funding needs.

"The fact is we need to increase school funding in our state, not shift it around," said WEA spokesman Rich Wood.

First Class Education, launched by Patrick Byrne, chairman and president of Salt Lake City-based online retailer Overstock.com, aims to get all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to put a 65 percent requirement into law. If such a requirement had been in place during the 2001-2002 school year, it would have provided $14 billion in additional in-classroom funds nationwide, the group said.

Janssen, a retired co-founder of Onyx Software and self-described "dad in tennis shoes" who lives in Seattle, has enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad involved in several philanthropic causes, but learning about First Class Education got him interested in the political world.

Janssen said it's too early to discuss details about what form the initiative would take or who his supporters are.

Getting an initiative directly to the ballot or to the Legislature would require almost 225,000 signatures.

But if other states' experience is any guide, a 65 percent requirement could be politically viable. Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have active First Class Education movements, and lawmakers in three states have acted: Texas Gov. Rick Perry has signed an executive order implementing a 65 percent requirement. The Louisiana Legislature unanimously passed a law asking the state board of education to implement the solution. Kansas also adopted a nonbinding 65 percent goal as part of a school funding package.

The WEA is skeptical about how effective such an initiative might be.

"We need to invest more in public education, especially in the classroom," Wood said. "Simply shifting current school funding isn't the solution."

And keeping schools running requires some spending on activities outside the classroom.

"We believe you have to pay for things like utilities and building maintenance. There's just no way around that," Wood said.

In at least one sign that local leaders are taking the potential initiative seriously, the Washington Policy Center, a free-market think tank based in Seattle, is doing a historical study of 30 years of education funding trends to look at how the percentage going to in-classroom funding has changed over time. President Dann Mead Smith said the study should be finished by the end of the year.

Among the preliminary findings: The number of students has been declining but state funding has been increasing.

"We're spending more on less students but the outcome hasn't improved," he said. Smith doesn't yet know why that is.

Smith said he thinks the First Class Education proposal may help draw voter attention to education funding issues. For example, he said, he only recently learned that Washington's definition of in-classroom spending doesn't match the definition used by the National Center for Educational Statistics.

"It opens the discussion of how much money gets to the classroom now," he said.

Contact: dgregg@bizjournals.com • 206-447-8505x114