Before I address the particular mess in Detroit Public Schools, I’d like to frame the issue by looking briefly at national trends in school funding. The following data are actual and projected figures from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics: Common Core of Data (CCD). They are complied from data gathered by the states and submitted to the Federal Department of Education. The time period covers 1989 – 2014. Real amounts to the present, projections after that. The dollar amounts are in 2002 dollars.
Ok, that’s the citation. Patience, eventually, below, I’ll speak like a normal human.
The first graph (Figure 33) shows money spent (or expected to be spent) for public K-12 schools. The funding rises approximately 90% over the 25-year period.
Figure 33. Actual and projected expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools (in constant 2002-03 dollars): 1988-89 to 2013-14
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics: Common Core of Data (CCD), National Public Education Financial Survey,” 1988-89 through 2001-02, and Elementary and Secondary School Current Expenditures Model, 1969-70 through 2001-02.
This second graph (Figure 29) shows that the need for teachers increases by roughly 45% over the same 25-year period.
Figure 29. Actual and projected count of elementary and secondary teachers: Fall 1989 to Fall 2014.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics: Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 1989-90 through 2002-03; Private School Survey Early Estimates, selected years, 1989-90 through 2001-02; Private School Universe Survey (PSS), various years; and Elementary and Secondary Teacher Model, 1968-2001.
The last graph (Figure 35) shows that teachers’ salaries will have stayed nearly flat over the same span of time. The salary increase is about 5% over 25 years.
Figure 35. Estimated and projected average salaries of elementary and secondary teachers (in constant 2002-03 dollars): 1988-89 to 2013-14
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Elementary and Secondary Teacher Salary Model, 1970-71 through 2001-02; and National Education Association, annual Estimates of School Statistics. (Latest edition 2004. Copyright 2004 by the National Education Association. All rights reserved.)
Now I’ll speak like a normal human. Let’s put the three graphs together. In round figures, expenditures up 90%, number of teachers needed up 45%, and teacher salaries up 5%. One obvious conclusion: It’s not teacher salaries that are breaking the school budgets across America.
Now let’s look at the picture in Detroit. Let’s isolate the percentage of the expenditures that go to administration. The most recent CCD data available is for 2004-2005. (I also reviewed the 2003-2004 data and the results are nearly identical.) To put the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) figures in to context, take the median administration costs as a percentage of total expenditures for all the districts in the US with over 120,000 students. (Note for statistical newbies: the median is the mid-point from top to bottom.)
Ok, that past paragraph wasn’t really human. I’m taking a deep breath and starting again.
There are 22 large districts. Their median spending for administration expenses was 10.5% of the total that they spent in a year. Their percentages ranged from 8% to 14%. Detroit Public Schools spends 17.1% on administration.
The DPS administration has stated repeatedly that their budget deficit is $110 million. They demand that the teachers make up $88 million of that deficit through wage and benefits cuts. But remember the national trends we looked at earlier. Teacher salaries are not driving deficits nationally and especially not in Detroit.
There is a simpler, fairer, and better way to make up the projected deficit. If DPS cut its administrative costs to the median level of 10.5% (found in other big school districts), the district would save $108 million. They probably would save more, as my figures are based on the most recent figures from the Department of Education, (2004-2005). Trust me, the Administration of DPS has not shrunk since then.
And that, my friends, is why the 9,500 members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers are on strike in defiance of the Back-to-Work Order. It is time to turn the spotlight on the incompetent and complacent management that has driven this district straight into the ground. The local media is uninterested in this story. We are just past a crippling newspaper strike that was won by management. The result is a Gannetization of the better newspaper. TV news needs pictures, facts need not apply. It doesn’t bleed, so it doesn’t lead.
Thanks for this forum. Watch this spot. There’s much more to come.
