Convention 2008: Advancing Equity through Education

Speaker: Mary Perry, Deputy Director, EdSource

Ten years ago, California initiated a study of equity in K-12 education. The expectation: that regardless of economic standing or ethnicity or other factor, students had equal opportunities in school and that they would be well prepared for college and work.

Ten years later, an "achievement gap" remains. The problem is not with the schools; it's about the way California funds its schools. In California, a low expenditure per student is coupled with high standard of living, which means higher salary costs.

EdSource looked at elementary schools serving similar demographics, where some schools produced high achievers and others didn't. EdSource learned that some of the difference was in the principal and whether or not she used the data.

Mary says, "Education is a people business." Eighty-five percent of money going to schools is for salaries and benefits for people. Yet we have fewer administrators, teachers, and counselors per student than other states.

Is California spending the money efficiently? How can the money be used more effectively? Experts agree that California's method of funding schools is extremely complicated, without good rationale behind the funding system.

One principle gaining support: More resources need to get to the schools having the biggest achievement problems. These schools are also the most expensive schools to support.

Mary posits that California needs to do a better job gathering and using data. A new system is in development, hampered by financial and political issues. A crucial component for the new system is the quality of data reported. Another component has to do with providing the resulting data to educators. That data can help them evaluate how they're spending the resources coming to their schools.

Last year California set aside $65M for schools. This is a small portion of the state budget. There's no question that budget constraints can derail progress here.

Education reformers are watching this year's budget process, hoping to get traction when education is discussed. Reforms will be an essential part of improving California schools.

EdSource forum: April 18 in Palo Alto; live webcast and on Web site.