Gov. Doug Ducey’s education plan helps Arizona’s wealthiest
Alia Beard Rau , The Republic | azcentral.com
A $38 million program Gov. Doug Ducey is pitching as a way to boost high-performing schools, particularly in low-income areas, would most benefit the state’s richest district and charter schools, according to an analysis by The Arizona Republic.
The “results-based funding” program proposes to give $400 per student to the state’s poorest high-performing schools and $250 per student to high-performing schools in higher-income areas.
Overall, it would give $13.5 million to the state’s low-income area district and charter schools and $25 million to middle- and higher-income schools, with $15 million of that going to the state’s richest schools. Also, a disproportionate amount of money would go to charter schools, which can more easily weed out lower-performing students.
“Look at the districts and charters that have zero to 10 percent of their students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, that’s where most of the bucks are going,” said Chuck Essigs, director of governmental relations for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials.
“This is a good example of when people propose changes in the school-funding formula, it’s very important to simulate what impact that change is going to have.”
Ducey gave the plan cursory mention in his State of the State address, listing it as numbers 14 and 15 in his litany of school-funding proposals. But he gave it top billing in his budget.
He proposed spending $38 million on it next year, more than any of his other education ideas. In comparison, he proposed $13.8 million for teacher raises and $10 million for full-day kindergarten.
“It’s a fundamental change in how we look at school funding,” Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said of the plan. “If a school is performing exceptionally well, we’re going to provide them additional dollars. If they are a school that happens to be low-income, we’ll provide them even more per pupil. We think it will make a real difference.”
Ducey is still negotiating budget details with the Legislature behind closed doors, and it’s unclear whether this plan has the votes to pass.
READ MORE: Who would get Ducey’s extra kindergarten money?
How rich schools benefit
Under the plan, low-income area schools are defined as schools with 60 percent or more of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, which for a family of four is an income of $44,955 or less.
To qualify — at least until the state overhauls and reinstates its school A-F rating system — the Governor’s Office proposes that at least 41 percent of a school’s students must pass math and English Language Arts standardized testing. For higher-income area schools, the passage rate was set at 65 percent.
Based on that criteria and schools’ current test results, here is a look at how the numbers would break down:
- 65 percent of the money would go to schools in middle- and higher-income areas.
- 40 percent of the money would go to the highest-income area schools in which 10 percent or fewer — and in the majority of cases 0 percent — of students qualify as low income.
- 26 percent of the money would go to charter schools as opposed to district schools; charter schools educate 16 percent of Arizona’s public school students.
- 12 percent of the money would go to two charter-school companies: Basis and Great Hearts.
The idea of funding the state’s highest-performing schools — with an added emphasis on successful schools serving low-income students — has support among some education advocacy groups.
Ducey’s Classrooms First Initiative Council, which included teachers and school administrators, listed it among its top priorities, saying schools that successfully serve the poorest students need additional money to meet needs like clothing, extra food, health-care services and school supplies that parents typically can’t afford.
A For Arizona, an education advocacy group under the umbrella of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, appears to be the biggest voice of support for the proposal. The group is led by former state schools superintendent and school-choice advocate Lisa Graham Keegan.
“In the mindset of the school leaders we work with at A for Arizona, they see results-based funding as the best chance of significantly moving the needle on achievement,” A for Arizona Senior Program Director Emily Anne Gullickson said. “Behaviors like this will continue to move our students forward to be where they need to be to succeed.”
She defended the plan’s formula, saying it still allocates more money per student to kids in the lower-income areas and that middle- and higher-income area school students also need and deserve additional funding to encourage their continued success.
A ‘tired argument’
In a recent column to the organization’s members, Arizona Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Glenn Hamer argued that it is not a funding structure designed to boost “a few select schools” because students in low-income areas would receive almost double the amount of money that other students would get.
“Schools with 30 to 59 percent of their kids in poverty are not wealthy,” he said. “They have a diverse population and the challenges that go with it.”
He called it a “tired argument” that higher-income area schools don’t also need additional support.
Chamber spokesman Garrick Taylor said the program does what it should — rewards the best schools.
“The idea of recognizing and rewarding excellence is a radical idea in education funding. Let’s credit Gov. Ducey,” he said. “He struck a good balance, acknowledging the challenges that all schools face, but sweetening the deal for schools challenging the conventional wisdom.”
Under a federal grant program, Arizona provides some additional funding to failing schools. Taylor said this proposal begins to change that mentality, moving in the right direction.
“Under the status quo, we fund failure,” he said. “We should reward good outcomes regardless of where they fall.”
READ MORE: Ariz. expands school-voucher program. Now what?
A rigged program?
But other education groups say the program is rigged to benefit the state’s wealthiest schools, particularly wealthy charter schools that cater to the highest-performing students. The funding is based on achievement test results, and students in high-income schools typically perform better on those tests.
“We have some districts and charters in our state doing an outstanding job with students who have real challenges,” Essigs said. “The concepts are valid, and I believe they were supported by just about everybody. It’s how that concept is put into action.”
Essigs said the formula needs to be adjusted to more equitably distribute the money.
“I don’t think it was intentional,” he said. “I don’t believe the results are what the governor wanted either, but I can’t speak for him.”
Children’s Action Alliance President and CEO Dana Wolfe Naimark said she thinks the program does exactly what Ducey and his administrators intended.
“It was painted as a way to help close the achievement gap. But 65 percent of the money goes to high-income schools,” Naimark said. “It was designed that way. I’m sure they worked a long time on that formula to make it come out that way.”
Helping excellent schools
Scarpinato said schools that have fewer than 60 percent of the students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch are not all “high-income.”
“I don’t think most middle-class families whose kids are not on free or reduced lunch would consider themselves high income,” he said.
He said the program recognizes that schools in the state’s poorest areas face additional challenges.
But he said the program is also focused on helping excelling schools with waiting lists tap into additional funds, which may allow them to expand and serve more students.
Ducey has often referred to Basis and Great Hearts charter schools as examples of successful programs he would like to help expand, and Scarpinato said there are a number of district examples, as well.
The details of the plan could be adjusted as part of the budget process.
Senate President Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said the fate of Ducey’s results-based funding program hinges on several other areas of the budget, particularly teacher raises. Ducey proposed a 2 percent raise spread over five years. Republican legislative leaders want a 2 percent raise spread over the next two years, and there’s a bipartisan push for more as budget talks continue.
“It has the potential of being part of the discussion when we try to decide how to move all the pieces around,” Yarbourgh said. “The governor is still asking for it.”
READ MORE:
Ducey signs Arizona school-voucher expansion
House budget ideas leave Ducey in the cold
Ducey’s plans to improve AZ education: Where are they now?
Ducey releases plan to shrink school wait lists
Ducey will support extending education tax
State money helping wealthier go to private schools
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