More Productivity… Not More Taxes

When thinking about public education its not how much we spend,
but what we get for the money that counts.

If Idaho’s district schools were as productive as North Star Public Charter School in Eagle or Thomas Jefferson Charter School in Caldwell, we could completely eliminate sales taxes and have a $114 million dollar surplus.

The 2004-2005 K-12 public education budget was almost $2 billion dollars. Sales tax revenue in 2004 was reported at around $886 million.

Idaho had 256,004 students attending public schools last year. Average daily attendance (ADA) was 241,291 students. For the 2004-2005 school year total expenditures per ADA were reported at $8,071.

But this only tells part of the story. On the average, only about 60% of Idaho’s students are meeting expected annual achievement growth. This means that it really costs $13,452 to produce a student that is considered proficient.

Progress is based on increasing productivity. This can only be accomplished in two ways: reduce inputs or increase outputs. In education this means reducing costs or increasing achievement growth rates.

Public charter schools have demonstrated remarkable improvements in productivity. These schools are spending less and producing more achievement.

While district schools are spending around $13,452 to produce a student meeting achievement growth targets, North Star did it for less than half, or around $6,355. The Eagle school spent $4,500 per student and reported 71% of their students meeting achievement growth targets. Thomas Jefferson costs per proficient student was $6,926. The Caldwell school spent $5,754 and reported 83% of their students meeting achievement growth targets.

The average between the two schools was $6,640 per student. This represents an astonishing 51% savings compared to district schools.

If this savings were applied to the K-12 public education budget, taxpayers could cut spending in half and save over a billion dollars at year in taxes.

Opening public education to more choice and competition will further improve productivity by lowering costs and increasing achievement growth. So why are we thinking about raising sales taxes to support a bloated monopoly when we really ought to consider eliminating sales taxes altogether by opening public education to parental choice and competition?