David French did incomplete, poor work researching how and why schools use public funds for non-teaching staff. Schools were forced to hire non-teaching staffs by circumstances and laws.
BUT before we indict any organization for poor use of public funds, maybe a closer look, and better "research" is needed. Ben did not do a good job of "researching" ALL the facts before he wrote his article.
If we withhold funds until an organization uses the funds as we think they should, without waste and in an efficient and effective manner, then why in God's name do we give the DoD billions more every single year? The kind of money Ben Scafidi is worried about is pennies compared to DoD wasting, even misplacing BILLIONs! And Ben, talk to me about the kind of waste there is in unwise tax cuts for favored businesses and the rich.
"Why are teachers striking? The answer may surprise you" [Ben gets only half the story so he is wrong to an extent.]
Benjamin Scafidi 2018 1 April 2018
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/04/01/why-are-teachers-striking-answer-may-surprise.html
"West Virginia, which has become a national flashpoint, makes for a good case study, and one available in my recent report for EdChoice, “Back to the Staffing Surge.” Like virtually all states, West Virginia has significantly increased its public school expenditures in recent decades. Using publicly available data, since 1992, and adjusting for inflation, West Virginia public schools have increased spending by 39 percent per student to $12,512 per student by 2014, while average teacher salaries fell by 3 percent during that time period.
So while school districts had cash to spend, teachers were seeing money actually leave their wallets. So where did that additional money go?
Like public schools in virtually all states, West Virginia public schools increased its staffing of non-teachers far in excess of what was needed to accommodate changes in enrollment, which fell by 12 percent between 1992 and 2015. Despite the decline in student population, West Virginia public schools increased employment of non-teaching staff by 10 percent during this 23-year period, from 17,533 to 20,029—an increase of almost 2,500 personnel as the West Virginia public schools saw their student population decline by almost 40,000 students. "
OK, Ben seems to have a fair point, so why not use the power of the budget to have schools funnel increased budgets into teach salaries? And while we are at it, ASK the school administrators WHY they added nonteaching staffs. There might be a good reason.
"In my research [Which appears to have been limited . . . Incomplete . . . Biased.], I have found that the surge of non-teaching staff in public schools has been occurring across America since at least 1950 and, at least since 1992, to no measurable positive relationship between this increased staffing and student outcomes."
By the way, Ben, your "discovery" has been public knowledge for a long time. NO ONE SHOULD BE SURPRISED.
And, by the way, special needs and other circumstances are driving the nonteaching staff increases. You might help more, Ben, by digging into the facts that matter rather than show your bias against public schools. Fnd a=out the answers before you question the results.
"The hidden half: School employees who don't teach"
Chester E. Finn, Jr. August 13, 2014
https://edexcellence.net/articles/the-hidden-half-school-employees-who-dont-teach
"Why do American public schools spend more of their operating budgets on non-teachers than almost every other country in the world, including nations that are as prosperous and humane as ours? We can’t be certain. But we do know this:
The number of non-teachers on U.S. school payrolls has soared over the past fifty years, far more rapidly than the rise in teachers. And the amount of money in district budgets consumed by their salaries and benefits has grown apace for at least the last twenty years.
Underneath the averages and totals, states and districts vary enormously in how many non-teachers they employ. Why do Illinois taxpayers pay for forty staff per thousand pupils while Connecticut pays for eighty-nine? Why does Orange County (Orlando), Florida, employ eleven teacher aides per thousand students when Miami-Dade gets by with seven?
What accounts for such growth and such differences? We don’t know nearly as much as we’d like on this topic, but it’s not a total mystery. The advent and expansion of special education, for example, led to substantial demand for classroom aides and specialists to address the needs of youngsters with disabilities. Broadening school duties to include more food service, health care, and sundry other responsibilities accounts for still more.
But such additions to the obligations of schools are not peculiar to the United States, and they certainly cannot explain big staffing differences from place to place within our country."
It's more helpful to study the issue fully, Ben, before jumping on someone for dong their best with what they have.
"The greatest expansion is in the “teacher-aide” category, which went from virtually nonexistent in 1970 to the largest single staff position other than teachers. The ’70s witnessed much of this staff run-up relative to student enrollment. And this coincided with myriad federal legislation, including Section 504, Title IX, and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which shifted the paradigm for schools from “do your best to educate everyone” to “educate everyone or get sued.”"
"Though a study such as this does not fully explain why these patterns and variations have developed, it can highlight the dramatic numbers themselves and urge district and state decision makers to examine their own practices and ask tough questions about their priorities."
More stuff Ben missed . . .
"Part of the problem stems from today’s woefully inadequate data. National statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, for instance, are rich with information about schoolteachers and principals but crude and unhelpful when it comes to non-teaching personnel. For example, that agency’s Local Education Agency Universe Survey reports that “other” staff accounted for 41 percent of all non-teaching staff at the district level in 2010. That’s more than a million people. But what do they actually do? The federal definition for this huge but vague category of personnel is “all other staff who serve in a support capacity and are not included in the categories of central office administrative support, library support, or school administrative support.”"
Here's something Benjamin should have offered rather than blunt, empty-minded criticism.
"Hence our recommendations for education leaders, based on the present analysis:
- Look at the practices of other districts, states, and countries to determine which ones might usefully be emulated or adapted in pursuit of better outcomes and efficiencies.
- Demand—and help gather—better data on the three million individuals who work for U.S. public schools but are not classroom teachers. Then scrutinize what they actually do to determine whether those functions are essential—and, if so, whether there might be a better way of performing them.
- Be creative when structuring one’s organization and deploying resources in response to obligations. Consider what can be done better (or less expensively) with the help of technology. Consider whether, for example, a behavioral specialist—or reading specialist—might better meet the educational needs of some youngsters than a platoon of aides.
- Each time you think of hiring (or replacing) someone, evaluate the necessity—and cost benefit—of that role. How vital is a given position to the school’s core mission? And is a full-time employee the best and most economical way to carry out a specific responsibility?
- Take maximum advantage of staffing flexibility already available within today’s contractual, programmatic, and regulatory constraints—and where that’s not sufficient to make needed tradeoffs and sound management decisions, push hard for additional leeway. When necessary, make a proper fuss at the state capital or in Washington. Waivers can be gotten, statutes amended, exceptions made, and alternatives approved."
Chester E. Finn, Jr. is a Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
See Ben, that's not so hard is it?
