Attacks on Moore school funding lawsuit don’t hold water

By Bill Bjork, NEA-Alaska President

As we await a ruling in the Moore vs. State of Alaska adequate funding lawsuit, a right-wing columnist has been taking potshots at our litigation, and, in fact, at the institution of public schools themselves. In his latest diatribe, Seattle-based columnist David Reaume drags out the old chestnut: “Additional spending is no fix for schools.” He uses class size and per-pupil spending to claim that there’s no significant relationship between the amount of public money spent on schools and the performance of students. Let’s take a closer look at his case:

In a column in the Anchorage Daily News, Reaume demonstrates that he doesn’t know the difference between class size and student-teacher ratio. As you know, these are very different concepts, and the two can’t be used interchangeably.

The student-teacher ratio includes all instructors holding teaching certificates – teaching specialists in areas such as physical education, art, reading, and special education, as well as “pull out” teachers who remove students from classrooms for specialized instruction. Alaska’s average student-teacher ratio for fiscal year 2005 was 16.8.

Class size, by contrast, is a count of how many students classroom teachers have in their classes. This is the number that matters to parents, teachers – and to student achievement. To calculate the difference between the two, take the student-teacher ratio and add 9 or 10 students to come up with class size.

Naturally, student-teacher ratios and class sizes drop in rural school districts. But the beneficial effects of smaller class sizes are often offset by high teacher turnover; limited or non-existent student resources such as lab equipment, music, art and other programs; and by the frequent necessity to group students of multiple grades into a single classroom.

Reaume also gets it wrong about there being no correlation between per-student spending and student achievement. That old argument has been thoroughly debunked by overwhelming academic research and court findings across the country (OF COURSE MONEY  MATTERS JAN2004). The Moore lawsuit follows in the footsteps of more than 40 similar lawsuits across the country. Overwhelmingly, these suits have been successful.

Money invested in quality teachers, smaller class sizes, preschool initiatives and academic interventions is money well spent. In the long run, the ultimate savings to society – through higher numbers of well educated, productive citizens – will far, far exceed the cost of these investments in our schools.

Editor’s note: To read Bill’s guest column rebutting Reaume.