Funding education: an issue til the turn of the century

By MICHAEL D. KLEMENS

How to improve Illinois public schools has dominated the General Assembly for five years. It all began when the National Commission on Excellence in Education warned in its 1983 "Nation at Risk" report that the country was threatened by a rising tide of educational mediocrity. In Illinois the focus has also been on paying for schools, an issue that has at times supplanted "reforms" on the policy agenda.

In 1985 lawmakers passed and partially funded a school reform package. In 1987 a state budget crisis and failure of a tax hike plan forced schools to take a $120 million budget reduction. In 1988 lawmakers wrestled with Chicago public school "reform," enacting structural changes that gave parents new powers in schools. That is now being implemented.

In 1989 state financial support to schools has been on the front burner. The most widely quoted education statistic this year has been Illinois' 44th place ranking in inflation-adjusted per capita state spending for education. This spring, the proposals to increase state funding for public schools carried names like Fund Education First and Priority One. And the cries for school funding helped at least in part to prompt Speaker Michael J. Madigan's (D-30. Chicago) temporary income tax increase.

What lies ahead for education? A University of Illinois study attempted to identify the issues in education for the rest of this century. The study found education financing as a continuing concern. James G. Ward, co-author of the study and director of the university's Office for Education Policy and Leadership, attributes the concentration on education financing to two years of drumbeating for an income tax in crease. Ward says he sees real financial problems in school districts, even "affluent" ones, having to cut staff and programs: "As I move around the state from school district to school district, I find that shool districts are operating in a crisis mentality."

But Ward also found problems beside money. He identified as a "major secondary concern" school performance and

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accountability: to make both the local schools and the state accountable. The third set of issues that his study identified are those involving the increasing population of pupils with needs for special education. Ward began the study by asking selected school superintendents, lobbyists, lawmakers and administrative staffers to identify the education issues that would loom in Illinois for 1989-1990 and for 1990-2000. Questionnaires were sent to 60 persons, and complete responses received from 33. Ward then repolled the same individuals and asked them to rank the issues as to their relative importance. They were asked to rank the importance of the policy issues on a scale of 4 (very important) to 1 (not important) for each of the two time periods: the short term of 1989-1990 and the long term of 1990-2000. The researchers averaged the scores for each of the 80 items on the surey. The highest score an item could receive was a 4 if all respondents rated it very important. The lowest it could receive was a 1. (See tables.)

Topping the lists for both the short and long terms was the need for adequate funding. Also at the top of the short-term list were funding the 1985 reforms and providing policies for dealing with fiscally distressed districts. Atop the long-term list, supplanting other fiscal questions, were improving science and math instruction and recruiting and retaining teachers.

Another portion of the study showed the same pattern — fiscal items dominating both time periods — but to a lesser degree in the long than in the short term. In this part of the survey, respondents were asked to choose the five most critical issues for each period from the list of 80.

Adequate funding won. It was named by 90.6 percent as a short-term issue and 67.6 percent as a long-term issue. After that, the selections diverged. For the short term fiscal items remained in the top five: (2) improving the image of public schools, (3) improving the quality of teachers and administrators, (4) development of state policies to deal with fiscally distressed districts and (5) revision of the general state aid formula.

For the longer term the other fiscal items have fallen out of the top five list: (2) recruitment and retention of high quality teachers, (3) developing a real reform program for the Chicago public schools, (4) increasing equity and equal educational opportunity for all students, and (5) development of successful programs for the special needs of urban students.

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The study concludes that education funding issues will be with Illinois for the rest of the century. It also concludes that demographic changes will put more demands on schools and that district consolidation, local/state relations and governance will continue to demand attention. And the authors say that performance and accountability will become a preeminent issue: "It must be made clear by the state what schools are expected to do and that they need to be held responsible for doing it."

Ward said he was surprised by the attention that respondents gave to accountability and performance issues. He was also surprised that school consolidation —an issue that no one wants to tackle politically — rated as much attention as it did. Public schools' financing and not accountability has been in the legislative limelight this year. On the one hand, without money not much reform can be accomplished. On the other hand, higher spending for education guarantees only one thing — higher taxes — not accountability. If Ward is correct, future school debates will focus on more than money. □

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