Calculating the real cost of public education in Oklahoma
From Sunshine Review
1 February 2009Contents |
With Sunshine Week coming up next month, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs is calling on government officials to increase transparency of public education. A study by the organization found that many costs were hidden, and while the Oklahoma public was told per-pupil spending in FY-2003 was $6,429, it was actually $11,250. [1]
[edit] "The Real Costs"
In 2005 researchers Brandon Dutcher and Steve Anderson set out to examine the true cost of public education for taxpayers in the state. Though the use of generally accepted accounting principles, they studied federal, state and local expenditures for K-12 schools that would be part of a regular financial statement. Their findings were released in a study called "Education in Oklahoma: The Real Costs."
Anderson writes, "If the CEO and finance division of any publicly held company attempted to influence public opinion with misstated financial data to the extent done by Oklahoma's education officials, they would be subject to criminal and civil prosecution."[1]
The report was hailed as "splendid" by Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman, who went on to call it "a real public service." However, the president of the most powerful labor union in the state called it "highly suspect." The authors challenged the union to a debate, but have had no response.
[edit] FY 2007 Update
To update the numbers, Anderson looked at data from FY-2007. Using the same method as in 2005, he explains, "I looked at every function that a private school would have to perform in a fiscal year, and then looked for the equivalent function in Oklahoma state government. Once the function was identified in a state agency, I traced how much of the agency's cost was related to public K-12 education and included those costs in my financial statement."[1]
The results showed that the actual cost of per-pupil spending for 2007 was $10,942. Official figures from the Oklahoma State Department of Education (SDE) hold that in FY-2007 a total of $4.07 billion was spent on public education at the local school level. However, many expenditures are not figured into that number. With those added in, the total cost to taxpayers for public education jumps to $6.5 billion.
Anderson identifies a number of areas where these hidden costs are coming from:[1]
[edit] Debt Service
The SDE's report on debt service lists a General Fund expenditure of just $287,766 for the entire state. Anderson points out that Tulsa Public Schools debt service alone was $81,543,927. He estimates actual debt service to be over $300 million statewide.
[edit] CareerTech
In FY-2008, over 314,000 students enrolled in at least one of Oklahoma's CareerTech programs. While these programs result in over $136 million in direct institutional costs, none are figured into the official per-pupil average.
[edit] Bursar
Bursars collect revenue from which schools fund their operations. Bursars working for the Oklahoma public education system can be found in agencies that collect revenues for public education - the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the Oklahoma Lottery Commission, the Commissioners of the Land Office, and the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission. However, none of these are included in the official expenditurers.
[edit] Retirement Benefits
While retirement benefits for teachers and support staff add to the cost of public education, the cost of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) is not figured into per-pupil spending.
[edit] Other agencies
The State Department of Education, while it distributes funds to schools and is responsible for many administrative services, is not figured into the cost per-pupil. Neither is the Oklahoma School of Science and Math. The OSSM is a tuition-free high school, with per-student costs of $29,282, costing taxpayers $7.2 million.
[edit] Depreciation
Wear and tear is expected for all buildings, yet the cost of repairs/replacements is not figured into per-pupil either. Normal depreciation of buildings is not reported by schools, and must be estimated.
[edit] Dropouts
In order to determine per-pupil spending, one needs an accurate count of students. Instead of just using the Average Daily Attendance, the SDE 2006-07 report uses the Average Daily Attendance, the Average Daily Membership, and the Weighted Average Daily Membership. Thus even if students do not show up, they are still counted in order to get more funding.
[edit] Need for Transparency
Whether these costs are justifiable or not is up to the taxpayers, but without transparency there is no way for them to have an accurate accounting of what they are paying for.
Determining that "Taxpayers deserve better from their government," Anderson issued a call, "Sunshine Week, spearheaded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, will be observed March 15-21, 2009. That would be a good time for state Superintendent Sandy Garrett to announce that she will no longer allow the government's school accounting systems to play these games, and that her office will publish annually a financial statement showing the real costs of education."[1]
