New Mexico Cost Study Calls for a 14.5 Percent
Increase in School Funding
New Mexico’s current school funding system does
not provide adequate learning opportunities for all
students, and an increase of 14.5 percent, or $334.7
million, is needed to achieve an equitable level of
“sufficiency” for public school education,
concludes a study
by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) that hopes
to revamp the state’s 30 year old school funding
formula. “An
Independent Comprehensive Study of the New Mexico Public
School Funding Formula,” commissioned by the
Funding Formula Task Force and issued in January 2008,
included an extensive public engagement process and
introduced a new link between state funding and accountability
in New Mexico schools.
Public Engagement
The study involved a comprehensive public engagement
process to determine the goals of public education and
define “sufficiency,” commonly referred
to as “adequacy” in school finance literature.
AIR organized public engagement activities, such as
questionnaires and town hall meetings, to attain public
and policymaker input in defining the goals and objectives
for New Mexico’s public schools. The definition
they came up with for sufficiency is based on the Goals
Statement, and it was used as the foundation for
the cost estimates and to provide guidelines in the
development of the project designs in the study.
Implications
The new formula calls for more money for school districts
across the state, but some school officials fear a proposed
accountability clause that might demand too much from
them. Along with increased funding, the study calls
for districts to develop a comprehensive Educational
Plan for Student Success (EPSS) to show how schools
will improve student achievement in different areas.
Beyond filing EPSS reports to evaluate progress in reading
and math, as already required by many districts, schools
will also have to file reports for other aspects including
student behavior, attendance, progress in other subjects,
and trends within subpopulations.
According to The Santa Fe New Mexican, some
superintendents are skeptical about implementing the
new EPSS to monitor increased funding because of the
amount of work required to complete the detailed reports.
Jim Anderson, a school superintendent, recognized the
importance of accountability, but he fears that “having
to provide so much detail will force districts to be
too broad in their goals,” which schools and districts
set on their own. Yet other school administrators say
they will adhere to increased reporting requirements
if it means getting more money because they are tired
of dealing with unfunded mandates.
The new accountability measure might also translate
into increased attention for subjects that have been
discouraged by the No Child Left Behind Act. This new
approach can advance a definition of success that strays
from the recent narrow focus on standardized assessments
in reading and math.
Methodology
AIR used the Professional Judgment Approach as the
primary costing-out methodology in its study. However,
it also incorporated the expert/evidence based model
and the successful schools approach by providing specific
materials – such as expert briefs and resource
profiles of successful schools – to the Professional
Judgment Panels (PJPs) before their deliberations. The
PJPs were comprised of educators at different levels
representing the diversity of urban, suburban-small
town, and rural-remote school districts.
The study included a comprehensive definition of sufficiency
to provide opportunity for all K-12 students to achieve
state goals regardless of classification or location.
It estimates the projected cost to achieve sufficiency
for 2006-07 at $2.84 billion dollars, a $334.7 million
increase from the $2.5 billion current educational spending
in 2005-06 inflated to 2006-07 dollars. AIR breaks down
costs by district category, and it estimates that urban,
suburban-small town, and rural-remote areas must increment
school spending by $88.7 million, $199.5 million, and
$46.6 million respectively to achieve sufficiency.
Similarly, the study estimates the per-pupil cost to
achieve sufficiency at $8,144, which represents a 14.5
percent increase over the $7,110 budgeted for that year.
AIR also reflects differences in per-pupil costs by
district category, and it estimates that urban, suburban-small
town, and rural-remote areas must increment per-pupil
funding by 10, 17 and 24 percent respectively to achieve
sufficiency.
This study accounted for students with special needs,
including English language learners, students in poverty,
and students with disabilities, and it recommended adopting
a revised and simplified funding formula that incorporates
simplified weighting systems.
AIR also recommended that governing bodies, the Legislature,
and individual districts work together in a multi-year
phase-in of additional funding.
Prepared by Marcela Briceno, February 8, 2008
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