Economy Demands A Public Education Paradigm Shift
by Steven Kleinsmith, Superintendent, Nixa R-II
November 18, 2009
A Guest Editorial
The great
State of Missouri will NOT grow out of the financial crisis in the
next few years. The severe economic downturn has left many states
with major financial problems…..Missouri is no exception. Public
education as we know it must change.
The money to support what public education is doing is just not
there. Once again, these are difficult economic times for public
education. The difference is this time there is no apparent end in
sight. Yet, rest assured, expectations for achievement will
continue to grow and appropriate funding will be left in the dust
behind all that public education is either expected to do or
required to do. So what are we as a state to do?
The answer is found in two words… “selective abandonment.” Being a
superintendent, I suspect some of you were expecting “more money”
to be the two words that would come out of my mouth. After all,
educators got into this profession to do more for our youth and
communities, not less. But during economically challenging times
like these, one should realize that the State has two sides of the
coin to consider; revenue and expenditures.
The revenue side will not be getting better anytime soon.
When we are being led to believe otherwise, it might be best to
look beyond the rhetoric and reflect on the facts. Federal
stabilization funds will soon run out. State revenues are down 10%
after the first quarter (after falling 7% last fiscal year.)
Projections for unemployment are high for months to come. The
number of negative revenue growth years for fiscal years from FY
2002 through FY 2010 is FOUR (4). This is four more than the
previous 25+ years. The governor has already had to cut $200
million with more to come… not because he wants to, but because he
has to.
The other side of the coin is where the solution rests…
expenditures. Public education in Missouri has enough money
to do anything they want to do, just not everything! The future of
our children rests on our efforts to organize and reprioritize the
investments in education and focus on what matters most.
The result of an organized prioritization approach would be the
abandonment of many unaffordable, yet good, programs and services.
Or, as an alternative, we can do nothing and be skinned alive and
suffer a painful and disturbing dismemberment (the elimination of
much needed education programs and services) by those less skilled
with the educational scalpel.
To a small degree this is done on a regular basis at the local
level, especially during tough economic times. This time, because
of the vastness of the financial crisis, the solution requires a
bigger, bolder approach--grabbing onto significant savings to the
tune of $100M+ statewide.
Missouri public education can be traced back well over a hundred
years. Public schools have provided the government with a captive
audience (of students) for implementing a long line of programs and
services presumably good and necessary for society. A few that have
been implemented are:
- nutrition and immunization a hundred years ago
- vocational and physical education seventy-five years
ago
-
guidance & counseling and foreign language fifty years
ago
- early childhood education and stranger/danger education to
most recently unfunded mandates such as requiring personal finance
prior to graduating, as well as, more physical education at the
elementary level.
All of this, without adding school days or time to the learning
calendar. In addition, while all of these, and many more, were
added, few of the existing programs and services were ever
removed.
What needs to be done? If our community’s public schools are to
continue to travel forward on the road from good to great, then
entire programs and services must be removed at the state level.
This means nice but not necessary, as well as unfunded mandated
programs and services, need to be adjusted, or better
yet—gone.
If more and more of the state’s revenue that supports existing
public school programs and services is pulled away without
adjusting expectations for excellence, we’re setting our students
up for mediocrity at best.
Doing more things fairly well rather than fewer things very well is
a legacy few want to be associated with. So what are we as a state
to do? My answer is to organize an abandonment process resulting in
total elimination of selected programs and services before we die a
slow painful death of many small cuts inflicted on us by those
using scalpels with jagged edges.
