Federal Government and Education

By Dennis M. Kilian

Giving federal funding to the states with fewer regulations gets more of the money to the classroom by eliminating administrative paperwork.

Accountability is important. Our schools should have greater authority over their own budgets and teacher hiring. Parents should have alternate choices if their schools are not performing up to standards.

Our K-12 educational system has been slowly improving. In the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE) year 2000 budget summary, it states that the National Education Goals Panel reported that between 1990 and 1996, 27 states significantly increased the percentage of 8th graders scoring at either the proficient or advanced level on the NAEP math test. However, the progress we have been making pales when compared with other countries.

Results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study were disseminated late in 1996. Findings from that study showed that only 5 percent of American 8th graders placed among the top 10 percent in math, as opposed to 34 percent of South Koreans and 32 percent of Japanese. Our high school seniors placed 16th in science knowledge and 19th in math skills out of 21 participating countries.

Our schools have not progressed at a rate needed to prepare our children to compete in the global marketplace. This comes at a time when knowledge is the real source of wealth and competitiveness. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Silicon Valley and right here in our district. Simply look at companies such as Peoplesoft, Intel, and Cisco and see how they are valued on the stock market as opposed to a company like General Motors.

Block Grants

So how do we accelerate the progress our educational system has been making? Part of the answer lies in the DOE's description of the federal role in education. The document states that, "Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States. It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine the requirements for enrollment and graduation".

However, later in the same document the DOE states that it funds and operates 175 programs that touch on every area and level of education. Furthermore, while the DOE's budget makes up less than 5 percent total education spending, it would take 25,000 state and local employees working 40 hours a week to complete the applications for those federal dollars. In 1990, the State of Ohio calculated that over 50 percent of its paperwork burden was related to federal education programs .

Obviously the DOE exerts a lot more influence and control than its contribution to overall education funding would suggest. It appears that the federal government, through the DOE, is dictating what the States and communities must do to obtain needed funds. We need to cut those strings, eliminate the inefficient application process and make the DOE's assertion that "education is a State and local responsibility" a reality.

We need to roll the funding into a block grant program that sends funds directly to school districts. Block grants (money with no strings attached) get more of the federal funding to the classroom by eliminating administrative paperwork. Furthermore, block grants give local school districts the ability to apply the money where it is needed, when it is needed. The needs of schools in Antioch or Danville are different than those in Richmond. Our school district administrators, principals, and parents are better qualified than the DOE to make decisions on how to apply the funds in our community.

School Choice

Simply easing the administrative burden of applying for federal funds and giving control back to the local schools is not enough to make our school system the best in the world. We also need to create positive learning environments for our students, encourage parental participation in the education process, and pay more to hire more of the best and the brightest to teach our children.

Progress towards a world-class education system starts with our teachers. Understandably, but unfortunately, the best teachers usually do not want to work in schools that need their services the most. Throwing money at these schools has not solved the problem, although smaller class sizes have provided some improvements. Spending $78 billion in federal aid between 1984 and 1997 to help millions of children has done little to boost achievement.

A study by the late University of Chicago sociologist James Coleman showed that children attending Catholic schools in inner-city areas perform better than public school students. These schools generally have a positive learning environment, parental involvement, and good teachers. These schools also cost less. In areas where privately sponsored scholarship programs gave the children the opportunity to attend the school of their choice, the students' exodus from the public school prompted that school to reform.

We need to provide scholarships that provide school choice and real opportunity for low-income families. However, we cannot forget the students who are left behind. The scholarships should be a little less than the funding the public school receives for each student. School choice provides our underachieving schools with motivation to make hard decisions and reform. The small portion of the public school funding left behind will help finance the actions needed to create the safe and positive learning environment and parental involvement that will attract good teachers.

Merit Pay

Merit pay for teachers is not a good idea. Teachers shouldn't be focused on their paycheck. They should be focused on teaching our children.

Compensation plans that focus on measurements can motivate certain behaviors. However, if the measurement used to determine the bonus is flawed, the behavior it motivates can be destructive. There are no data that conclusively link student performance to any particular teacher performance objective. Furthermore, there is always a lag between the time the behavior occurs and when the result is measured. Therefore, if we guess wrong, our children are adversely impacted for a long period of time.

Money is important to our teachers. We should pay them well. But the really good teachers are motivated by internal needs such as job evaluations, peer recognition, their students' achievements, and parental feedback. Let's focus on these areas.