At a recent forum, local education officials said their message to candidates for the state Legislature was simple: put schools at the front of the line for funding. As evidenced by growing tensions statewide over school budgets, education administrators have a tough sales job in arguing that more money is the only way the state can help Maine’s public schools improve.
One way to make the case is, for example, to show taxpayers they are getting a return on their investment by awarding students diplomas only once they’ve shown they’re proficient in skills needed for college and careers, and doubling down on implementing the nationally accepted and rigorous Common Core standards.
But a number of Maine school districts, including Bangor, have sought to delay their implementation of proficiency-based diplomas, and officials in the LePage administration have sent conflicting signals about Common Core.
Meanwhile, Maine’s schools overall have had more money to work with. In the 2012-13 school year, public schools spent nearly $2.1 billion — in both state and local funds — up from $1.7 billion in 2003-04.
Over the same time, the number of Maine public school students has continued to decline. In the 2013-14 school year, 184,367 students were enrolled in the state’s public schools, down from 199,467 just seven years earlier. So, naturally, per pupil expenses have risen at a pace that exceeds inflation — from $8,347 in in 2003-04 to $11,583 in the 2012-13 school year, according to the state Department of Education.
Many education costs aren’t dependent on student enrollment — the cost of heating and lighting a school building doesn’t fall when there are fewer students in it and, generally, teachers are needed at each grade level even when class sizes are shrinking. And with rising costs for salaries, health insurance and heating oil, many of these expenses are actually increasing.
This is the picture statewide, but because of how the state funding formula works, many school districts have seen their state funds decrease. Bangor, for example, saw a drop of $920,000 in state funds for the current academic year from 2013-14 levels. The district’s per-pupil expenditures are slightly below the state average while it has met all but one target under federal school improvement standards.
The city’s school budget earlier this year was trimmed several times to get down to a slightly more than 1 percent increase in spending. The budget faced contentious debate among members of the city council but voters approved it by a 2-to-1 margin in June with only about 3,000 people casting votes.
In other communities, the debate has been more contentious, with school budgets failing numerous times at the polls. Clearly, a sufficient percentage of the public remains unconvinced that schools are spending taxpayer money wisely.
One way to change this dynamic is through proficiency-based diplomas, which require students to demonstrate they have met state standards before graduating. Under a law passed in 2011, school districts are required to award proficiency-based diplomas to 2017 graduates.
But in response to multiple requests from school superintendents earlier this year, the Maine Department of Education granted school districts six options to extend the time to transition to the new system.
In June, the Bangor School Committee voted to delay proficiency-base diplomas. Seventy-five percent of school districts that responded to a survey released by the Department of Education in June said they were not ready to implement the new standards, although participation in the survey was low.
And although Maine in 2011 adopted the Common Core standards for math and English, the Department of Education recently formed a committee to examine those standards, which are clearer and more rigorous than the standards they replaced. Maine’s schools have now fully implemented the expectations, along with schools in 42 other states. But the review — which is happening as Republican opposition to the standards grows — raises the specter that they could be weakened.
And, although the methodology is suspect, more schools dropped a letter grade than improved in the second year under Gov. Paul LePage’s controversial school grading program.
At the state and local levels, Maine is making a substantial investment in public schools. At the state level, funding for K-12 education is the second largest budget expenditure — behind the Department of Health and Human Services. A record of better outcomes for all students is the best way to justify continuing this level of support.