Education unfairly under fire

Tomorrow many communities across the state will be asked to vote on a variety of school funding items. These proposals are facing a stiff headwind due to deficit concerns. While deficits are a concern the main talking points against these proposals center on teacher pay and taxes. There is a common misconception that spending on schools is out of control. In 1993 per pupil funding in my community of Saline stood at $5,360. In 2009 that number was at $7,643 per student. While this is an increase and it appears to be a significant increase it is actually a cut. If you take into account the value of money overtime, or inflation, the 2009 funding should be at $7,958 just to break even with the 1993 funding level. In short, Saline area schools have seen a decrease in the budget every year for the past 16 years and that cut stands to grow even larger if the proposed cut by governor Snyder of $470 per student passes. Obviously these are tough times and everyone needs to sacrifice and so far the Schools have been doing more with less. By limiting funding more with local tax cuts we stand to fall further behind as a country.

Unfortunately money does matter in education. Data shows that the countries that spend more on their teachers as a percentage of GDP get better results in the class room and right now America is in the middle of the pack on both spending and performance. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule as money is not the only factor in education but by in large if you want better results you have to invest more money. The push to continue to lower funding for schools will have a negative impact on our educational standing in the world and will result in a less competitive United States.

School funding has remained consistent for much of the last 20 years and the cost of schools is not to blame for the massive deficits that we currently face. Budget items like corrections have seen an increase of around 44% over the past decade, after adjusting for inflation, while education spending in the state of Michigan has dropped by around 5% over that same time. Luckily, unlike corrections, some education spending is actually voted on at a local level and this Tuesday is your chance to stop the assault on our nation’s education system. Eliminating the deficit should be a priority but we should look at areas of the budget that have seen huge increases, not those that have already taken cuts.