Join the conversation

Yesterday, we published guest postings on the economy, schools and the stimulus package by two teacher/bloggers: Ken Bernstein and Anthony Cody. Today, Ken responds to Anthony's posting. Bear in mind that the numbers have been changing fast as the bill races towards likely passage--so stay tuned.

Let me respond to Anthony Cody by examining in some more detail the impact of both stimulus and cuts upon the two school systems I know best: Arlington, Virginia, where I live; and Prince George’s County, Maryland, where I teach.

Virginia Governor Kaine would limit the cuts in state aid to local school districts to no more than $400/student. In Arlington, with about 18,300 students, that is a cut of $7.3 million in an FY2009 school budget of $350 million. That cut is just over 2%. Over two years, the total loss to the schools is $14.6 million. Examining the analysis available for the House version of the stimulus, over two years Arlington would have received $9.5 million, about 65% of what the state is cutting. Remember, cutting funds for schools represents cutting jobs, since the largest operational cost for schools is salaries and benefits. Cutting teacher jobs increases class sizes, with a concomitant impact upon student learning.

In Maryland, Governor O’Malley’s proposed budget cut will reduce state funding to Prince George’s County Public Schools by $35.2 million. This is a 3.2% cut in the operating budget for the system, the largest cut of any of Maryland’s 24 school jurisdictions. Even before the Governor’s decision was announced, our acting head of the school system was planning to eliminate 866 jobs, or roughly 5% of the total workforce -- doing this as much as possible by attrition: the system usually loses between 600-800 teachers per year. He also proposed to close six schools and consolidate some programs. All of this was merely to offset the loss of revenue due to declining home values (remember, schools are largely funded by taxes on real property). Class sizes in grades 1-3 were to be bumped from 22 to 24, eliminating over 100 positions. Since the Governor’s budget cuts were announced, the number of PGC schools to be closed has doubled to 12, afecting 235 teachers and administrators, as well as parallel numbers of support personnel. Some of these will transfer to other schools, but many will lose their jobs.

Maryland is also trying to shift costs. Our pensions are through the state. The President of the State Senate has proposed beginning to shift those costs to the local jurisdictions, with all employer costs for pensions for new hires and for salary increases to be absorbed by the localities. Prince George’s was already cutting jobs and programs because of the shortfall in local revenue. Shifting additional costs to the localities at a time when they are already financially stressed could have a devastating impact upon schools and student learning.

Governor O’Malley has held off on his cuts to see how much they might be offset by the educational funding in the stimulus. The House version of the stimulus would have provided considerable relief of about $45 million to Prince George’s County Public Schools per year.

If the purpose of the stimulus is to save and create jobs, cutting the spending for education is contrary to that purpose. Unless, of course, we believe somehow that the jobs of teachers, counselors, administrators, and educational support personnel are less valuable to American society than are those of bankers, insurance executives and Wall Street brokers.