PolicyGuy

Tuesday, January 31, 2006


About that 65 Percent Solution.
The latest fad in education reform--the 65 percent solution--is the subject of some, well, gaming.

Texas has instituted a rule (currently being talked about around the country) requiring that 65 percent of all K-12 school money be used for "classroom spending."

Ah, but what exactly is "classroom spending?"

The Houston Chronicle picks up the story:

Houston ISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said the district is facing uncontrollable expenses, including rising utility bills and fuel costs for buses and higher property insurance due to hurricanes.

"If I put 11 million new dollars into utilities, I'd have to identify another 22 million in new expenses on the instructional side," he said. "Any logical business person would understand the challenges districts will have concerning meeting this rule."

Saavedra said he doesn't like the NCES definition because it values football over libraries. He hopes that Texas writes its own standards for classroom expenses."

The NCES is the "National Center for Education Statistics," a division of the U.S. Department of Education. According to the Chronicle (I have not verified this myself), "expenses for extracurricular activities" (presumably including football) are included as "classroom expenses" under federal guidelines.

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"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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