65 percent: no solution for schools

In November 2005, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt announced his 65 percent education proposal. This concept is promoted by Patrick Byrne, a Utah businessman, whose organization First Class Education (FCE) is trying to change the law in all 50 states to require public school districts to spend at least 65 percent of operating funds on what the group defines as “classroom expenses.”

Overview:

• The 65 percent plan does NOT put more money into Missouri public schools. Quite simply, the plan does not put more than $200 million of new money into classrooms as being touted, and it will do nothing to improve achievement in our schools. What it would do, however, is mandate that local school districts reallocate existing money—not new money—by cutting from direct services to students to reach a 65 percent spending benchmark on what it defines as “classroom expenses.”

• The 65 percent plan narrowly defines “classroom spending.” A key problem with the proposal is defining which expenditures in a school district are supportive of student instruction. Many expenditures that support instruction and are essential to operating any school are not included in the definition of “classroom expenses.”
  

• The 65 percent plan strips local decision making from elected school boards, local educators and parents who know best what is needed to educate their children. Instead, it imposes a one-size-fits-all plan on every school district regardless of size or special needs. The plan brings no new money to the table, yet it tells districts how to use the money they have. In many cases, that money is from local taxpayers, not the state. With this plan, a school district that receives only five percent of funds from the state would be required to spend 100 percent of its revenue the same as a district that receives over 50 percent of its funds from state aid. This is not local control.

• The 65 percent plan will force schools to terminate thousands of school personnel who provide critical services to children. Essential school employees who work in areas left out of the definition of classroom expenditures—including librarians, counselors, school nurses, bus drivers, cooks, custodians, attendance clerks and others—would need to be cut for districts to achieve the 65 percent threshold for classroom expenditures. It is the work of these school employees that allows teachers to focus their time and energy on helping students achieve high standards.

• The 65 percent plan shows no correlation to student achievement. In 2005, the state legislature modeled its new school funding formula on 100 of the state's top-performing school districts. More than 80 percent of those school districts currently do not meet the 65 percent spending benchmark proposed in the plan. Furthermore, of the 112 districts that currently reach the 65 percent threshold, some are only provisionally accredited by the state. The school district that is currently in top compliance—spending 76.23 percent of its funds the way First Class Education defines “classroom expenses”—is a district of 41 elementary students that scored only 36 out of 54 on its Annual Performance Report from the state, meeting only the minimum requirements for accreditation.

State Data
Using the data referenced by Gov. Matt Blunt and First Class Education, Missouri ranks 46th in public school funding. Only two states spent more than 65 percent on "classroom expenses," and 20 states spent less than 60 percent.

65% Deception: Status in the States