Next year, there will be more students enrolled in primary, secondary and higher education than ever before in our nation's history. Next years' estimated student population will mark the 27th consecutive increase since 1985.* To meet the increasing and changing enrollment demands of local school districts, state education departments expect the number of public school teachers to increase by 45,000.**
Most of the funding for public schools come from state governments. The national average is 45.5%. In California, due to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the state's general fund covers more, 59.3% for K-12 public schools.*** Due to the recession, the general fund has been slashed 15%. Combine these together and two questions arise: can the already stripped bare education budget afford the new influx of students, and two, if by some creative accounting miracle we can, will quality suffer?
The answer to the first question is relatively simple. Public K-12 schools will receive the funds they need to get by because they are 100% publicly financed. State colleges, on the other hand, while they do receive state funds, get most of their revenue from student tuition. To compensate for underfunded high schools and elementary schools, college students will end up footing the bill. All that stands in the way is a possible statewide tuition freeze.
The budget Governor Brown signed last month included a last-minute provision that would get leaders of the state's public university systems to freeze tuition. Catch is, the freeze will only take place if voters agree to temporarily raise income taxes on high earners and sales taxes.
The second question — will the quality of K-12 education suffer due to the boom in demand — is harder to answer.
Since 2010, forty-five states have adopted the Common Core State Standards — a nation-wide project championed by the National Governors Association. The goal of the movement is to provide "...a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them." Which is not to say states are seeking out the lowest common denominator in order to boost test scores. "[T]here has been an explicit agreement that no state would lower its standards."
National standards are important because state boards of education are comprised of elected officials rather than appointed experts. Among other things, textbook standards, what information goes into science and history books, falls under their influence. Scholars write the books, but if they don't pass muster with certain elected officials the books will not be bought.
Historically, two states, California and Texas, have had the biggest say as to what goes into school textbooks because they buy the most. In other words, students in Rhode Island probably read history books whose standards were determined by Texas officials. This presents problems when the Republican Party of Texas (note: most of the members of the Texas board of education are members of the Republican Party) announce as part of their 2012 platform that they "...oppose the teaching of critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of...behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." It should also be noted that Texas is one of the five states yet to accept the National Governors Association's standards.
As state's tighten their pursestrings, schools have been forced to do more with less. Yet amidst all the budget cutting, a silver lining appears. The publishing industry is evolving and print does not look like it will survive. Publishing costs being what they are, the economic necessity of mass producing textbooks is slowly being eliminated. Eliminate the necessity and you eliminate the influence of big consumers. Therefore, as more and more schools go digital, classroom content can be curtailed to greater specifications and discretion.
So here's to progress: may it continue to shed its light even unto those whose eyes remain shut.
