Ariz. classroom spending hits new low
But local school leaders say state report misses point
PHOENIX — Arizona school districts overall spent less of the money they received last year in the classroom than in any of the 16 years the state has been keeping track, according to a report from the Arizona Auditor General’s Office.
The new report out Wednesday found that just 53.5 cents out of every dollar spent to educate Arizona youngsters in 2015 went for instruction. That includes everything from teachers, aides and even coaches to supplies like pencils and papers and some activities like band or choir.
But many state and local education officials disagree on the “extremely narrow” definition of what the AG’s office constitutes as “classroom spending,” Dr. Timothy Ogle, executive direc- tor of the Arizona School Boards Association, wrote to its members in response to the report.
“When you look at all the combined services (instruction, student support services and instructional staff support), school districts continue to keep funding at a stable level despite huge cuts to their budgets since 2009,” Ogle wrote.
What’s really happening, said Yuma Union High School District Superintendent Toni Badone, is that the pieces of the “pie” are shifting.
School districts essen- tially get the same amount of dollars each year, she explained to the district governing board Wednesday evening, but due to fluctuations among staff and other factors, the percentages change, giving the appearance that the amount of dollars being spent has increased, when in fact, it has not.
The administration cost per pupil in YUHSD was considered “high” at $834 and the number of students per administrative position averaged 51. Transportation costs were “very high,” but the district buses students from Somerton and other outlying areas. A high school for Somerton is slated to open within the next five years.
Chief Financial Officer Dianne Cordery also pointed out that the district employs many student workers, and all of them are counted under the auditor general’s definition of “administration,” even though they are students.
Board President Phil Townsend said that had the district filled its empty 41 teaching positions last year, the percentage of students per teacher would be lower as well.
Badone also noted that the report utilizes enrollment data from October 2015 and financial data from October 2016.
Other local school superintendents say the report misses the point — that all of a district’s funds are used (in some form) to educate children.
“The very nature of our business is directed towards the classroom and students,” said Crane Superintendent Bob Klee. “The report shows that we expended 51.2 percent of our operational dollars in the classroom. However, we also spent 7.4 percent of our operational dollars to help ensure that students receive meals at breakfast and lunch, 3.9 percent of the operational dollars to help transport students to and from school, and 11.9 percent of the operational dollars to provide a comfortable, safe and clean environment for our students to learn.”
Crane’s administration cost per pupil, according to the report, is in the “low” range at $807. Of its peers, Crane had the highest number of students per administrative positions at 73, and its plant operations averaging $7.42 per square foot (which was classified as “very high”).
But Klee noted that the district does not necessarily look at where its funds are spent, but how, noting that it does not receive additional funding from an M&O budget override, as the 19 districts in its operational peer group does.
“Yet, we are the 2nd highest performing district in that operational peer group, and the top performing district in our assessment peer group. So we feel that these results are the true indicators that our operational dollars are being spent with the focus of the student at front,” Klee said. Academically, the district outperformed both the state and its peers in math, English/Language arts and science.
Jamie Sheldahl, superintendent at Yuma Elementary District One, noted that the state’s low-overall funding of education (48th in the nation) is “exacerbated in Yuma County by the fact that our districts do not benefit from maintenance and operation budget overrides.”
About 70 percent students in Arizona attend a school district with an override, Sheldahl said. Overrides allow school districts to exceed their budgeting capacity for a certain period of time, usually seven years, at a certain percentage. School districts can also sell bonds to investors to raise funds.
“These M&O overrides allow districts to significantly increase teacher salaries and reduce class size (hire more teachers), thus increasing the overall percentage of their resources qualifying as ‘dollars in the classroom,’” Sheldahl noted.
Voters in the Somerton School District approved a budget override in the November election. Other school districts in Yuma County that took out bond measures within the last five years include the Antelope Union and Yuma Union high school districts, Crane, Yuma District One and Gadsden, according to data from the Yuma County Superintendent of Schools Office.
The AG’s report classified District One’s administration and plant operation costs as “very high,” ($873 per pupil for administration and $7.12 per square foot), though it had an average of fewer administrative positions per student than the state and its peers. But every worker not assigned to a school is considered “administration.”
Higher physical plant and transportation costs can be attributed to temperature extremes and Arizona’s (and Yuma County’s) rural and remote areas, Ogle said. He also noted in his rebuttal that students that are “poorer than the national average that require additional outside the classroom support services (ELL instruction, meal assistance, tutoring, etc.)...”
Andy Smith, the superintendent at Antelope Union, said that the AG’s report “misses important details in the area of administration spending.” The report classified AUHSD’s as “very high” at $2,064 per pupil, compared with its peers’ ($1,647) and the state’s ($806). But the district averaged only 50 students per administrative position.
“Aside from being the superintendent of Antelope Union I serve as the music teacher, but the reports submitted to the state of Arizona place my position solely under administration,” Smith explained. “The principal of Antelope Union High School, Bart Rud, is a bus driver, however his position is solely considered administration and this is the concern of most small districts where staff cover several positions, but the report is not constructed to reveal all of these details.”
Of the nine Yuma County school districts included in the Auditor General’s report, only Hyder Elementary School District had a lower student poverty rate (21 percent) than the state average of 23 percent.
The estimated number of Yuma County children 18 and younger who lived in poverty in the last 12 months is about 29 percent, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2011-2015. The Auditor General’s report used data from 2015 to convey poverty rates for school districts.
For South County, the Gadsden School District’s administration cost was “very low” ($913 per pupil). Plant operations cost was as “very high” at $9.28, but the district covers a large area along the Mexican border, which falls to the south and to the west of San Luis.
Somerton School District had a “low” cost of admin- istration ($956 per pupil). Plant operations were considered “high” at $7.60/sq. ft. Academically, the district fell below its peers and the state in math, ELA and science, but Superintendent Laura Noel noted on the district’s website that the district’s scores are improving.
Over Telegraph Pass in Wellton, the elementary district there had an average administration cost of $1,412, but many of the workers have four or five job duties. Plant operations cost was $5.04, which was considered “very low.” The report noted the square footage per student at 254, but the school has seen a decline in enrollment since the fall of 2012.
In the rural and remote K-8 Mohawk Valley Elementary School District, the average administration cost per pupil was $1,763. Plant operations cost was $7.15. Academically, students fell below in science and English/Language arts, but were about even with the state and its peers in math.
At Hyder School District (Dateland School), where administration costs per pupil ran about $2,091, the district averaged 43 students per administrative position. Plant operations cost was $7.27. Academically, district students surpassed both their peers and the state in the percentage passing math, English language arts and science.
Antelope Union’s Smith said regarding the district spending report that “we are happy that our efforts to spend more money in the classroom, placing Antelope Union above state and peer averages with regard to instruction. It is our hope that this effort will make a difference with regard to student achievement.”
Student achievement should be the measure of progress, said Crane’s Klee.
“Due to the hard work of our teachers, support staff and administrators, the report shows that Crane Schools outperformed the established peer group and the state-wide measures in math, English/Language Arts and Science,” he said. “That is a tremendous honor, and again, all credit goes to the dedicated work of our employees — all driving for what is in the best interest of the students and their success.”