Education, not economics

With the election of Glenda Ritz as superintendent of Indiana schools last November, there was hope that Indiana education policy could start moving in the right direction. Gov. Mike Pence’s two-year budget plan, however, leaves some doubt.

The plan would increase K-12 education funding by one percent, and in 2015 the best-performing schools would split an additional $64 million. I am wary of this pittance being promoted as progress.

Former Gov. Mitch Daniels cut $300 million from K-12 education back in 2009. The Pence plan recoups less than half of that figure, despite a $2 billion surplus. Unlike state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, I don’t think kids should be forced to swallow this cut just because their parents have faced pay cuts and layoffs. If anything, kids with struggling parents need better schools.

The $64 million split between the best-performing schools, however, is what really makes me nervous. The schools that are already high-achieving are generally not the same schools that need the most funding.  

Good schools are marked by great teachers, diverse opportunities, AP and IB classes in a variety of subjects, computer labs and quality teaching equipment. It takes money to make all of these things happen.

While I’m sure that the schools in upper-middle class suburban areas would appreciate increased funding and put it to good use, these are usually not the same school districts that struggle with mass truancy and have a majority of students on free or reduced lunch.

I suppose the $64 million is meant to act as a reward, an impetus to encourage schools to get their act together by applying economic principles to education. But, as well-meaning of an incentive as this plan is, the school system is not a marketplace.  

Students have little to no opportunity to choose which school they will attend. Kids stuck in Indianapolis Public Schools go there not because they are getting maximum utility, not because they have made a rational cost-benefit analysis, but because education is compulsory and they have nowhere else to go.

Indiana students should receive a quality education no matter which school they attend. We cannot afford to think of schools as suppliers and students as demanders. Poor students will continue to be relegated to poor schools. We cannot write these kids off.

This $64 million is going to help a few kids get a better education, but leave most of those who are at the margins of society in the dust. It is another step toward increasing income inequality and cementing class immobility.

We need higher funding for all schools, along with productive policy changes.  

Of course throwing money at the problems inner-city and rural schools face won’t make them magically disappear, but, in conjunction with better policy, we can make a dent.

When it comes to education, hopefully Ritz and Pence will work together to find ways to benefit every student rather than throwing pennies at a select few.

­— casefarr@indiana.edu