Connecticut Faces a School Tax Revolt

Wall Street Journal ^ | August 23, 2008 | Lewis Andrews

[reaganaut1]

On June 30, the board of education and the town council in Enfield, Conn., convened to hear the results of a citizen cost-cutting committee. Among its other recommendations, the 17 residents recommended replacing some public school teachers with low-cost college interns, restricting the use of school vehicles, and increasing employee contributions to benefit plans.

These may seem modest steps toward fiscal responsibility -- but they are emblematic of a significant change in this very blue state: growing disenchantment with the price of government, especially of public education. [Cross Country] Corbis

Over the past two and a half decades, the student population in Connecticut has increased only 10%. Yet the cost of schooling more than doubled -- to $8.8 billion in 2006, up from $3.4 billion in 1981. Seventeen years ago, the state enacted an income tax with promises to cut other taxes. Instead, real-estate assessments soared, creating a massive income transfer from the private to the public sector, fueled in part by a state cost-sharing formula that uses taxes on residents in the suburbs to subsidize urban schools. Helping to soak up all that money were binding arbitration laws, skewed to give teacher unions an advantage in collective bargaining negotiations.

The result is that the average teacher salary is now the highest in the nation -- $57,750 excluding benefits, according to the latest survey of the American Federation of Teachers. Meanwhile, the American Legislative Exchange Council reports that Connecticut is one of the 10 states with the heaviest property-tax burdens. According to a calculator on the Web site of the Nonpartisan Action for a Better Redding, a local taxpayer group, even the smallest municipalities unnecessarily spent millions on school construction, much of it to meet a predicted increase in population that never materialized.

[reaganaut1]

The calculator showing how much money vouchers could save is at http://www.betterredding.org/html/calculator.html .

[Amelia]

Public Education Ping

This list is for intellectual discussion of articles and issues related to public education (including charter schools) from the preschool to university level. Items more appropriately placed on the “Naughty Teacher” list, “Another reason to Homeschool” list, or of a general public-school-bashing nature will not be pinged. If you would like to be on or off this list, please freepmail Amelia, Gabz, Shag377, or SoftballMominVa

[pnh102]

Want to cut school costs? It couldn't be more straightforward. Simply allow for parents to deduct the cost of home schooling or private schooling from their school taxes.

The immediate outflow from the public school system will force the system to become more efficient.

[Amelia]

Metmom, you might want to ping your homeschool list on this.

A couple of interesting tidbits from the article:

There are other ideas in the air. In Chester, First Selectman (Mayor) Tom Marsh proposes to pay students not to attend public school...."If we can persuade families to consider options outside the system," he says, "we have the potential to save significantly long term."...the archbishop in Hartford advocating a tax credit for corporations that help poor students attend private schools...

[Raycpa]

The writer is an alarmist.

Doubling in 25 years is about even with inflation about 2.5%.

Even with inflation and accommodating a 10% increase is a decrease in real dollars.

I think we spend too much on kids in the inner cities but this article doesn’t help when the author lies.

[Senator John Blutarski]

I do believe that unionization is without question the worst thing that ever happened to public education. But do the math here. If you assume an average annual inflation rate of 3 pct between 1981 and 2008, the cost of education would have increased by a factor of 2.2 on the basis of inflation alone. Allowing for a 10 pct increase in the student population, the factor increases to 2.44. Multiply the 1981 cost of education by 2.44 and you get an estimated annual budget of $8.3 billion. That leaves only about $500 million to account for, and there has been a significant degree of “mission creep” which has affected public education over the past several decades. I don’t pretend to hold myself up as an expert here, but this increase in educational costs does not appear to be as outrageous to me as the article implies.

Any insights, criticisms, or comments out there?

OTOH, the issues of affordability and return on investment DO remain valid questions.

[flushing_kenny]

Excellent!! most excellent. Amazingly enough, its taking a Harlem Democrat over here in NY to make the baby steps towards a rational budget.

But as for education, we just need to remember the death scene of the Wet Nurse in the arms of Hank Rearden:

“But a different breed of teachers had once existed, he thought, and had reared the men who created this country”

[downwdims]

CT ping

[kabar]

Cause of Problem: Illegal immigration.

[MSF BU]

That may be true, I’d look at the cost per employee and add in the various other benefits both tangible (health care, defined benefit pension) and intangible (less than full time employment, typically shorter commutes, etc.). In Massachusetts there are typically shortages of some teachers (math, science) but overall there is a glut of people waiting to sign onto the school, fire and police departments. In many cases, this is the best employment to be had for graduates with a soft degree from many schools.

[Amelia]

Interesting analyses!

[y6162]

I live in a Ct suburb. I smell a tax revolt brewing as well.

The income tax was imposed on Ct by one vote after Lowell Weicker vetoed three budgets. Since then there has been no restraint on spending.

Teacher unions are a powerful political faction, however there has been virtually no return on the billions spent on education. Friends who formerly were pro education are now bitching about taxes as well.

[Amelia]

The result is that the average teacher salary is now the highest in the nation -- $57,750 excluding benefits

What I would like to see is an analysis of teacher salaries compared to or adjusted for cost of living and/or average per capita income in a particular area. For instance, a teacher (or person in any other profession) would probably need more money to live in a suburban than a rural area, or in Boston compared to Podunk Arkansas.

Something like that might enable a better "apples to apples" comparison of teacher salaries across the nation...

Then, perhaps, a realistic analysis of whether higher teacher salaries correlated with higher student achievement might be attempted.

[Amelia]

The result is that the average teacher salary is now the highest in the nation -- $57,750 excluding benefits

What I would like to see is an analysis of teacher salaries compared to or adjusted for cost of living and/or average per capita income in a particular area. For instance, a teacher (or person in any other profession) would probably need more money to live in a suburban than a rural area, or in Boston compared to Podunk Arkansas.

Something like that might enable a better "apples to apples" comparison of teacher salaries across the nation...

Then, perhaps, a realistic analysis of whether higher teacher salaries correlated with higher student achievement might be attempted.

[Amelia]

Ooops.

[montag813]

The new “big problem” in schools in Bridgeport, New Haven, and elsewhere, are ILLEGALS and anchor baby kids flooding the schools.

[metmom]

Good Lord!!!

It must be bad if they’re suggesting that.

[metmom]

This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. DaveLoneRanger has asked me to take over the management of this list. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.

These threads are getting difficult to classify for my lists but I thought it would be of more interest to the homeschool list with the recommendations being presented.

I never thought I'd see the day when a public official would suggest paying kids to NOT attend public schools.

If there's any CT homeschool FReepers out there.....

[driftdiver]

So if they pay you to homeschool does that mean they get more control?

[wintertime]

Wrong!

We left the Upper Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1999, and even then government schools were out of control. Our county had almost nothing in the way of a black population or immigrants, yet our adult illiteracy rate was 20%. These are white, native born county citizens mis-educated in our county government schools.