2007: The Good Old Days for Wake's Schools?

In 2007 everyone who wanted a job had one. Foreclosures were few and far between. The stock market had not crashed. Neither the State nor the County had a budget crisis. It was a good time. Yet in 2007, according to data just released by the U.S. Census, NC was ranked 44th out of 50 states in support per student for public schools. Further, in prosperous, high-tech Wake County, public expenditures by the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) were below the state average. The combined contribution of the State and County for the operating expenditures for education (largely classroom instruction) was in the bottom 30% of the State rankings. The results aren't known for the 2010 school year just starting. It seems likely that NC and Wake's rankings will continue to fall. This year the State and County's contributions did not keep up either with growth or inflation. In fact if we look back fifteen years, we see that NC's ranking has been slowly but steadily slipping toward the bottom of the list. Back in 2007, Wake County and the State excelled in creating new jobs. The resources needed to build schools for the associated new students took a giant bite out of property taxes and left too little for advancing academics. Recently, the results of this have begun to show in reduced test scores and graduation rates. This should not be surprising. Pre-school programs, summer school and after school hours enrichment programs all add to student performance and raise costs. When class sizes are small - as they often are for either at-risk students or the academically advanced -- costs per student go up. Smaller schools help maintain an orderly environment needed to advance education, but raise administrative costs. Who is accountable? Accountability is diffuse, defying transparency and confusing the public. Accountability ranges from the Governor, the State Superintendent, the Department of Public Instruction, the NC General Assembly and the Board of Commissioners, and finally the Wake Board of Education (BOE) and the Superintendent of WCPSS. Neither the BOE nor the Superintendent has a significant role in determining the level of revenues. They have a large, but not commanding, role as to how it is spent. But they are the most visible and available to the public and draw the most criticism. We are about to have an election based on the premise that a change in the Wake BOE assignment policies regarding diversity and neighborhood schools will be a silver bullet to reform education in Wake County. But it changes nothing in the remainder of the system and could add to local costs and taxes. What's needed are some basic changes to the system, such as: Clarify accountability of the Wake BOE to control both revenues and expenditures, i.e., give the BOE the authority to set the tax rate for schools, which is common in most of the country; Connect growth and school infrastructure through Adequate Public Facility Ordinances and impact fees. Impact fees are used by hundreds of municipalities across the country. They allow property taxes to be focused more tightly on education. All the while the BOE needs to focus on advancing academics (e.g. trade off the cost of bells-and whistles in school construction for more resources to advance education), addressing local inequalities and effectively communicating both restraints and accomplishments. Wake County will grow again. This time we need to be ready for it. ~ Stan Norwalk, Wake County Commissioner