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Lesson 8.2

Education Spending:
What can education dollars buy?

If you compare school budgets, don’t forget to compare this…

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As discussed in the previous lesson, California's funding for public education is ordinary, compared to other states. Not the best, not the worst.

Unfortunately, this is bad news for California students, because money is only good for what it can buy, and California is a very expensive place.

Money is only good for what it can buy

Most of the costs of a school are people costs such as salaries, benefits and pensions, which cost more in California than they do in other states. California school districts can afford less of everything that matters most — such as teachers, school leaders, counselors, aides, and support staff.

Because California is state with high wages and a high cost of living, education dollars don’t go as far here as they do elsewhere.

For example, the cost of living in Texas and Florida is much lower than in California, which enables teacher salaries to be lower in those states. There are other states with high costs, like New York and New Jersey. As discussed in Lesson 8.1, those states compensate by investing considerably more economic effort per student to fund education than California does.

The student-teacher ratio in California is much higher than in the rest of the US

There are different ways of ranking the states in terms of their investment in education, but the rankings that matter most are those that compare purchasing power.

Fewer Adults

The math is unavoidable. Higher salaries and less money to pay for them means California children have a lot fewer teachers involved in their education. It's a big gap.

It's not just about teacher ratios, either. California compares unfavorably with other states in terms of the presence of adults, period. For example, in 2022-23 California’s student-to-school-counselor ratio was 464-to-1, ranked 43rd in the US.

Too much bureaucracy? No. California has significantly fewer administrators per student than average.

Skeptics sometimes assume that California schools and districts are administration-heavy, but they are mistaken. California laws restrict the number of administrators a district may employ. Overall, California's schools and districts are supported by significantly fewer administrators per student than the national average. Too little administrative oversight and lack of leadership has been harmful to California students, according to research conducted as part of a set of high-profile studies known as Getting Down to Facts II.

Comparing resources in schools, 2022-23

  California Rest of USA California rank
Students per teacher 21.9 14.8 3rd worst in USA
Students per counselor 464 376 8th worst in USA
Students per administrator * 236 168 7th worst in USA

* Includes both school and district administrators

What is an adequate education?

In many states, education advocates have turned to the judicial branch of government to make the case for more funding for education. Some state constitutions explicitly or implicitly require their school system to provide students with at least an adequate education. Litigation, or the threat of it, has compelled some states to increase spending on education. California's courts declined to follow their lead.

The question is meaningful, anyway. What resources do schools actually need in order to provide students with an adequate basic level of education?

The 2018 report What Does It Cost to Educate California’s Students? took a bottom-up approach to the question, following the example of litigation in other states. The study, part of the "Getting Down to Facts II" project, consulted multiple expert panels to estimate the necessary staff and services required for an effective California middle school.

The panel advised that schools serving students with higher needs require additional resources. How much? After itemizing headcount requirements and costs, the report recommended an overall boost of about a third in order for a well-run middle school to take on the goals set by the State Board of Education.

The expert panel recommended the resources and ratios below as a minimum definition of adequate staff and services for a middle school:

Adequate resources for a California middle school
(according to expert panel findings, 2018)

Core instruction

Seven periods a day AND two periods for planning and collaboration among teachers.

An average class size of 22 students for the core subjects (i.e., English language arts, Math, and Science). This excludes resource teachers or teachers supporting special education and English learner students. Once these additional instructors are considered, the estimated pupil–teacher ratio is 15:1.

Special populations

One or two English language specialists, as well as two educational assistants, to support new students who are classified as ELs.

Small caseloads for special education staff: up to 7 students with high-severity disabilities per educational specialist, and 17 students with low-severity disabilities per educational specialist.

Student and other support

About 10 more instructional and pupil support staff for a typical middle school with 609 students.

Professional development opportunities for staff, including in-house programs as well as funds for teachers to attend conferences.

Extended day and year

Smaller class sizes in the extended time programs (compared to the core program class sizes), reducing the pupil–teacher ratio from 30:1 to 18:1.

All students with severe disabilities enrolled in special education to attend summer school.

Parent groups, local education foundations, and philanthropists in California try valiantly to support their schools with fundraising of many types. But you can't bake-sale your way out of an ongoing operating gap of this magnitude.

The next two lessons explain the sources of school funding in California and the role played by Prop. 13, which thoroughly upended the state’s education system.

Updated July 2024.

Quiz

Which ONE of the following is TRUE?

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Questions & Comments

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user avatar
Among Us July 30, 2023 at 7:05 am
Based on my expererirnce as a parent I do believe the school administrators are not using the funds well besides how they set up their policies about teaching it’s not good at all but they do get good pay but it’s not fair for a students
user avatar
Jeff Camp - Founder July 30, 2023 at 2:56 pm
School boards hire the district superintendent. School administrators (principals, etc.) work for the district superintendent. Advised by the superintendent, boards can adopt policies that serve as a form of law to guide their school district. Policies about teaching fall in this category. Regarding pay: School administrators in California tend to make more than most teachers, but much less than executives with similar scope of responsibility in the private sector. Competent administration (that is, effective leadership) is a key driver of school quality.
user avatar
Carol Kocivar August 4, 2022 at 1:20 pm
ZERO-EMISSION SCHOOL BUSES
School bus fleets are dominated by diesel combustion vehicles. These buses create pollution that harms the environment and are costly to operate. The cost of fuel and repairs necessary to maintain a diesel combustion system erode resources that could otherwise be used to support other aspects of school transportation programs.

The state 2022-23 Budget includes $1.5 billion one-time Proposition 98 General Fund, available over five years, to support greening school bus fleets through programs that will be operated by the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission. This is part of a larger $6.1 billion package to accelerate the state’s transition to Zero-Emission Vehicles.
user avatar
Carol Kocivar August 4, 2022 at 1:18 pm
California school districts got needed help in the 2022-23 state budget to pay for home to school transportation.

The Budget provides $637 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to reimburse local educational agencies for up to 60 percent of their transportation costs in the prior year.

Additionally, commencing in 2023-24, the Budget reflects the application of an ongoing cost-of-living adjustment to the current LCFF Home-to-School transportation add-on.

user avatar
Carol Kocivar August 4, 2022 at 1:16 pm
California school districts got needed help in the 2022-23 state budget to pay for home to school transportation.

The Budget provides $637 million ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to reimburse local educational agencies for up to 60 percent of their transportation costs in the prior year.

Additionally, commencing in 2023-24, the Budget reflects the application of an ongoing cost-of-living adjustment to the current LCFF Home-to-School transportation add-on.

user avatar
Vik November 5, 2017 at 11:13 pm
This is an injustice to our future generations.
user avatar
Elizabeth Perkins October 27, 2017 at 5:06 pm
24 - 26 in K-2, 30 in 3, 4, 5
user avatar
Caryn-C September 11, 2017 at 11:33 am
Honestly, I found these statistics horrifying. 22.1 students to each teacher? That went away years ago. At our K-8, the numbers are much closer to 30+.

It is interesting to view the issue in terms of California being a high wage, high cost of living state. Well, so is New York and they are investing almost double in their students? Pretty embarrassing.
user avatar
Esmeralda Munoz April 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm
True! I hate when they say 22 students to 1 teacher. Big fat lie!
user avatar
ed August 27, 2016 at 11:51 pm
A new mantra for California:
Making better with less
user avatar
Brandi Galasso May 2, 2015 at 4:15 pm
The students need more people to directly effect and help them learn and experience. Not people paid to keep saying what they need instead of doing what they need.
user avatar
Tay Fe April 24, 2015 at 9:54 am
California public schools need to return to 20 to 1 in elementary and have smaller class sizes in 7 to 12.
user avatar
Veli Waller April 10, 2015 at 8:22 pm
Our elementary school of over 800 students just got a counselor - 2 days a week. Nice to see something positive like this. The graphs and statistics in this lesson are horrifying. California last in the country in all of these key areas.
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