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Here’s an Idea: Put 65% of the Money Into Classrooms. Report gives Montana D in education
The idea’s appeal lies in its simplicity, proponents say. If school districts were required to make their administrative operations more efficient, they could free up money for use in the classroom.
The thought is at the root of an effort by a new advocacy group – First Class Education – to compel school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their operating budgets on classroom instruction.
Tim Mooney, a Republican political consultant from Arizona, was the driving force behind the creation of First Class Education. Patrick M. Byrne, an entrepreneur from Utah who founded Overstock.com, a retail Web site, is the group’s prime financial backer, having pledged $1 million. And the columnist George Will has given their idea the descriptive name that has stuck, "the 65 percent solution."
The goal, Mr. Mooney said, is not to reduce school spending but to shift what he views as inefficient expenditures on administration and support services to teachers and students. "If you did this in all 50 states, it’s $14 billion more a year," Mr. Mooney said. "It’s enough for a new computer for every student in the country, or 300,000 new teachers."
Ranking States on Instruction Spending javascript:pop_me_up2(‘http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/03/education/04solution_map.html’, ‘570_618’, ‘width=570,height=618,location=no,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes’)
By ALAN FINDER
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/education/04solution.html
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Report gives Montana D in education
By SARAH COOKE
Associated Press
HELENA — Montana’s education system received a D and stood second-to-last in the country in education standards in a report http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2006/17src.h25.html released Wednesday.
Education Week, a nationally distributed publication, issued the rating based on grades in several categories. Montana received no grade higher than a C-, which was awarded for a variety of issues classified as "school climate," including parental involvement, class size, school size and school facilities. But that was still below the national average of C+.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch has been critical of similar national education reports, saying the state typically scores poorly because its curriculum is developed by individual school districts, rather than being driven by state standards.
The state earned its lowest grade, a D-, in school funding equity, although that could change given the multimillion dollar boost in aid schools received from the state last year.
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