The CPRE Wisconsin School Finance Adequacy Initiative: K-12 Education Today

1
The CPRE Wisconsin School Finance Adequacy
Initiative K-12 Education Today

• Allan Odden
• Anabel Aportela, Sarah Archibald, and Michael
  Goetz
• Consortium for Policy Research in Education
• July 13, 2005

2
Introductions
3
Our Goal

• To conduct a school finance adequacy study, or
  what the Doyle Commission called, a cost-out
  study
• How much money per pupil is needed to educate
  students to Wisconsins proficiency standards?
• There are many more details, but the above is the
  core of our Initiative

4
What We Will Produce

• We will produce a per pupil number, with
  adjustments for varying pupil needs, and school
  and district contexts
• We will show how this would work in a foundation
  school finance formula, that is funded with a
  combination of state and local dollars, and
  allows any district to spend above the foundation
  expenditure level if it wants to no limits on
  spending

5
What We Will Produce

• We intend to build to a foundation level by
  showing resources for each school in the state,
  and
• We will have on our web site our proposed
  resources for every school in the state or most
  schools

6
Comparisons to Current Resources

• You will probably want to know how what we will
  propose for each school compares with current
  resources
• Very hard to do because we do not have school
  level resource data, and very hard even if we did
• We would be willing to collect resources for a
  range of schools in a range of districts, if we
  had volunteers from the Task Force would
  require about 1 day of work with us per school

7
Roles
8
Roles of the Task Force

• Understand what we are doing and communicate
  to/with their constituencies
• Contextualize our approach to Wisconsin
• Add important Wisconsin information, perspective
• Tailor the recommendations to Wisconsin and its
  school system
• Raise issues we may have overlooked

9
Roles of our Policy Analyst Advisors

• Be our critical friends
• Critique and help us improve our analyses
• Provide additional insight from their own
  research and experiences
• Keep us honest
• Help us maintain our credibility with the
  Wisconsin education policy analysis community

10
Roles of the Work Group

• Help us find our way through the thicket of
  Wisconsin SF data
• Insure that our analyses use the right data and
  are on target
• Help maintain good and clear communication
  between our UW-CPRE group and the key state
  agencies that conduct the official school finance
  analyses for the state

11
Task Force Members Concerns and Issues Related
to Wisconsin School Finance Adequacy
12
Agenda

1. Context of Wisconsin Education, Spending and
   Teacher Salaries
2. Wisconsin Student Achievement
3. Current School Finance System
4. Equity Analysis
5. Previous Wisconsin Adequacy Studies
6. Our Approach to Wisconsin Adequacy

13
1. Wisconsin Context
14
Wisconsin State Population Since 1995
Increase of 8.45 since 1995
Source Department of Administration, State of
Wisconsin
15
Population Growth Unevenly Distributed

• Most growth is in four areas
• The counties around Hudson, which are becoming
  commuting communities for the Twin Cities
• Dane County and surrounding counties
• SE Wisconsin, which is becoming more of a
  commuting community for the greater Chicago
  area
• In and around Green Bay

16
Percent Population Growth Since 1995Top 20
Counties
17
Wisconsin Student Population Since 1995
Increase of 2.26 since 1995
Source Department of Public Instruction, State
of Wisconsin
18
School Districts in Declining Enrollment
Fiscal Year of Declining Enrollment Districts (Using Revenue Limit Definition) Percentage of All School Districts
1997-98 131 30.8
1998-99 163 38.3
1999-00 188 44.1
2000-01 193 45.3
2001-02 216 50.7
2002-03 232 54.5
2003-04 250 58.7
2004-05 267 62.7
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Number of School Districts byTotal Enrollment,
2004
Total Enrollment Number of Districts
10,000 11
5,000 9,999 17
4,000 4,999 13
3,000 3,999 24
2,000 2,999 42
1,000 1,999 106
500 999 128
1 499 101
Total Districts 442
426 districts, 16 Independent Charter schools
30 of Enrollment
30 of Enrollment
Source Department of Public Instruction, State
of Wisconsin
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Student Enrollment and Diversity
Ethnicity 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004
Asian American 3.35 3.35 3.37
African American 10.15 10.36 10.52
Hispanic 4.96 5.38 5.83
American Indian 1.42 1.46 1.45
White 80.11 79.45 78.83
Source Department of Public Instruction, State
of Wisconsin
21
WI v. National School FinanceChange in Real
Exp. Per Pupil
Nation Wisconsin
1960-1970 69 66
1970-1980 22 16
1980-1990 48 60
1960-1990 206 So tripled! 209 So tripled!
1990-2000 7 11
22
WI v. Nation Expenditures
National Wisconsin WI Advantage
1981 2436 2670 9.6
1986 3555 3973 11
1991 5248 5946 14
1996 6103 7093 16
2001 7436 9043 22
2005 8554 9881 16
23
Wisconsin Per Pupil Expenditures1995-2005
24
Wisconsin Personal Income1995-2005
25
Percent Changes in Personal Income and Per Pupil
Expenditures
26
Increase in Expenditures Per pupil v. Increases
in Personal Income Per Capita

• Annual increases in expenditures per pupil and
  Wisconsin personal income per capita tracked each
  other quite well from 1996 to 2001
• After that, expenditures grew at a faster pace
  than personal income, but that divergence began
  to change in 2005, though we have only estimated
  data for 2005

27
Wisconsin and Surrounding StatesPer Pupil
Expenditures, 2004-2005
28
WI v. Nation Teacher Salaries
National Wisconsin WI Advantage
1981 17,602 17,607 0
1986 25,206 26,347 4.5
1991 33,015 33,100 0
1996 37,560 38,182 2
2001 42,988 41,646 - 3
2005 47,750 43,466 - 9
29
National Average Teacher Salaries1997-2003
30
Wisconsin Average Teacher SalariesV. National
Average 1997-2003
31
Wisconsin Average Teacher Salariesv. Surrounding
States 1997-2003
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2. Student Achievement
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Major Trends in Achievement

1. Scores on Wisconsins state tests in terms of
   at or above proficiency are twice as high as on
   the NAEP tests, which have a common national
   standard
2. Student test scores have not changed dramatically
   over the past 5-10 years
3. About 80 of students score at or above
   proficiency on state tests and about 1/3 on NAEP
   tests

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Major Trends in Achievement

1. Yes, Wisconsin is above the national average, but
   the nation on average is educating only about 30
   of students to or above proficiency
2. Using a rigorous national standard, Wisconsin has
   a long way to go to educate 80 students to or
   above proficiency
3. According to the Education Trust, Wisconsins
   success with minority students is not good and
   the statewide achievement gap worsens from
   elementary, to middle to high school

35
Wisconsin 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension
Test1999-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
36
National Assessment of Educational ProgressGrade
4 Reading1992-2003
Source NAEP
37
National Assessment of Educational ProgressGrade
4 Reading 2003
38
WKCE/WAA CombinedGrade 4 Mathematics2002-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
39
National Assessment of Educational ProgressGrade
4 Mathematics1992-2003
Source NAEP
40
NAEP Mathematics Percent at or Above Proficient
Grade 4
41
WKCE/WAA CombinedGrade 8 Reading2002-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
42
National Assessment of Educational ProgressGrade
8 Reading1998-2003
Source NAEP
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NAEP Reading Percent at or Above Proficient
Grade 8
44
WKCE/WAA CombinedGrade 8 Mathematics2002-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
45
National Assessment of Educational ProgressGrade
8 Mathematics1990-2003
Source NAEP
46
NAEP Mathematics Percent at or Above Proficient
Grade 8
47
WKCE/WAA CombinedGrade 10 Mathematics2002-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
48
WKCE/WAA CombinedGrade 10 Reading2002-2004
Source Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction
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3. Current Wisconsin Finance System
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Wisconsin School Finance Structure2004-05

• Tier 1 Focus here is property tax relief for all
  districts
• Primary Guarantee GTB of 1.93 million for first
  1,000 of spending this requires about a 0.52
  mill tax rate
• Tier 2
• Secondary Guarantee GTB of around 98th
  percentile, but varies with funding level
  estimated at 1,006,510 for 2004-05
• Secondary Cost Ceiling For spending up to a set
  level, that increased by law about 200-400 each
  year now set at 90 of statewide average shared
  cost per pupil about 7,782 for 2004-05, or 6.74
  mills
• Almost all districts have shared costs today
  above the secondary cost ceiling, a fact that was
  not true in the 1990s as a later slide will show
• So total mills for Tier 1 and Tier 2 is 7.26
• Tier 3
• Tertiary Guarantee GTB at state average about
  407,300 for 2004-05
• No spending ceiling, and no penalty for districts
  with assessed value at or below the secondary
  guarantee
• But for districts with wealth above that,
  negative aid that reduces Tier 2 aid at most down
  to zero Tier 1 aid stays the same and by law
  cannot be reduced by negative aid in Tier 3

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Wisconsin School Finance Structure2004-05

• Revenue Limits
• Each year each district can increase its revenues
  per pupil by a fixed amount set by law, which
  ranged from 190 per pupil in 1993-94 to 241 for
  2004-05 it can increase revenues above this only
  with a referendum with a simple majority
  approval whatever is approved is rolled into the
  districts shared cost for the next school year.
  Districts with shared costs below 7,800 in
  2004-05 could increase spending to that level
  without a referendum.
• Qualified Economic Offer
• If an increase in salary and benefits cannot be
  agreed to during collective bargaining, the
  district can impose a QEO if it offers at least
  an increase of 3.8 percent in salary and
  benefits, excluding the extra costs of the
  education units and degrees. Recently health
  care costs have increased at a rate higher than 4
  percent so can eat up all dollars in a QEO.

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Categories of Districts ReceivingGeneral
Equalization Aid in 2004-05

• Category Number of Districts of Total
• Positive Primary Secondary Aid 18 4.2
• Positive Primary, Secondary Tertiary Aid 249
  58.5
• Negative Tertiary Aid 117 27.5
• Primary Aid Only 37 8.7
• Special Adjustment Aid Only 5 1.2
• Total 426 100.0

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Additional WI School Funding Programs

• State School Aid Appropriation 2004-05 Funding
  Level
• 1. General Equalization Aid
  4,218,691,000
• 2. Special Education Aid 320,771,600
• SAGE Aid 95,029,600
• Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
  87,362,500
• 5. Integration Aid (Chapter 220)
  84,695,700
• 6. Milwaukee/Racine Charter School Program
  29,949,700
• 7. Transportation Aid 17,742,500
• 8. Special Adjustment Aid
  13,222,800
• 9. Tuition Payments Aid 9,741,000
• 10. Bilingual-Bicultural Aid
  8,291,400
• Includes 60 million from
  transportation fund (Segregated Fund) and
• MPCP (45) and MRCSP (100) funds
• 55 of funding is from state and 45 from
  Milwaukee Public Schools
• (MPS) general equalization aid reduction
• 100 of funding is from general equalization
  aid reduction to all 426
• school districts

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• 4. Wisconsin Equity Analysis

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Wisconsin School Finance Equity

• 1. The two key equity statistics indicating
  degree of equal dollars per pupil are the
  coefficient of variation (CV) and McLoone Index
• CV benchmark is less than or equal to 10
• McLoone benchmark is greater than or equal to 95
• 2. The key equity statistic for the linkage
  between dollars per pupil and property wealth per
  pupil is the wealth elasticity
• Wealth elasticity benchmark is less than or equal
  to 10

56
Wisconsin Status on Equity Goal of Equal
SpendingEquity StatisticsAid Years 1990-91
through 2002-03
Both CV and McLoone generally within equity
benchmarks over the 1990s
57
Wisconsins Status on Equity Goal of Equal
AccessFiscal Neutrality StatisticsAid Years
1990-91 through 2002-03
Wealth elasticity fell to below 10 over the 1990s
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Summary Data for Wisconsin School Finance1990-91
through 1998-99 Aid YearsGTB Levels, Shared Cost
Ceilings Percentile Rankings
Primary guarantee covered most students, as did
the secondary guarantee, beginning in 1996-97,
making it one of the highest GTB programs in the
country.
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Summary Data for Wisconsin School Finance1990-91
through 1997-98 Aid YearsGTB Levels, Shared Cost
Ceilings, Minimum Aid Districts Percentile
Rankings
Top shared cost ceiling used to cover large
percentage of students, but began to drop in the
1990s and now covers only about 2 of students
60

• Do these equity trends hold today as well?

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Wisconsin School Finance 2005
62
Table Results

• Variation in property wealth per pupil, 409,766
  in lowest spending decile to 798,840 in highest
  decile
• Note average wealth in highest spending decile
  is far below the secondary guarantee of
  1,006,510
• Variation in school tax rates, from 7.07 mills in
  lowest spending decile to 10.62 in highest
  spending decile, with an average of 8.74 mills
  for shared costs
• Variation in shared costs per pupil, from 7720
  to 9973, with average of 8527
• Note average shared costs per pupil in lowest
  decile of 7720 is higher than current operating
  expenditures per pupil for 19 states in 2004-05.
• Also note most shared costs above Tier 2 shared
  costs of 7782
• New school finance problem high wealth, high
  tax rates and high dollars per pupil, rather than
  the old problem of low wealth, high tax rates
  and low dollars as well as high wealth, low tax
  rates and high dollars per pupil
• Factor most strongly linked to higher spending
  the local school tax rate

63
Wisconsin Equity
64
Wisconsin School Finance Equity

• 1. The two key equity statistics indicating
  degree of equal dollars per pupil are the
  coefficient of variation (CV) and McLoone Index
• CV benchmark is less than or equal to 10
• CV in 2005 is 8.3, better than the benchmark
• McLoone benchmark is greater than or equal to 95
• McLoone in 2005 is 2005 is 95.2, better than the
  benchmark
• 2. The key equity statistic for the linkage
  between dollars per pupil and property wealth per
  pupil is the wealth elasticity
• Wealth elasticity benchmark is less than or equal
  to 10
• Wealth elasticity in 2005 is 5.1, better than
  the benchmark
• 3. So generally, Wisconsin school finance beats
  all the standard equity benchmarks

65
Wisconsin School Finance Equity

• When adjustments are made for pupil need
  disabled (0.9), poverty (0.25) and ELL (0.2), all
  equity statistics worsen
• When adjustments are made for the varying
  purchasing power of the education dollar using
  the NCES GCEI, all equity statistics worsen
• When adjustments are made for both, some equity
  statistics no longer meet the benchmarks CV
  rises to 11.5
• So WI school finance equity is pretty good but
  more robust recognition for pupil needs is
  required

66

• Previous
• Adequacy Studies in Wisconsin

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Four Methods of Determining the Cost of an
Adequate Education

• Successful District Approach
• Cost Function Approach
• Professional Judgment Approach (Called the
  Resource Cost Model in the 1980s)
• Evidence-Based Approach

68
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• Per-pupil expenditures are specified as a
  function of
• public school outputs
• a set of input prices
• student, family and neighborhood characteristics,
  and
• a set of unobserved characteristics of the school
  district.

69
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• Outputs used for this study include
• value-added achievement scores from Wisconsin
  8th and 10th graders
• number of advanced courses offered in high
  schools
• but no measures of elementary achievement
• Teacher salaries comprise the largest share of
  input prices used, but they used a figure for a
  teacher with a given set of characteristics so
  the salary differed by school district, but
  quality was held constant

70
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• This model includes a count of students with
  characteristics associated with higher costs to
  educate
• Number of students qualifying for free or reduced
  price lunch or other public assistance programs
• Number of students identified as limited English
  proficient
• The percentage of students classified as having
  any disability
• The percentage of students who are autistic,
  deaf, or deaf/blind

71
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• Finally, the model also includes two district
  characteristics associated with varying costs
• the proportion of each districts students in
  high school as opposed to elementary school, to
  help account for the possibility that more
  resources are needed for high school than at the
  elementary level.
• district enrollment and the square of district
  enrollment, to account for the economies and
  diseconomies of scale associated with large and
  small districts, respectively.

72
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• The cost function is then set to a target level
  of performance, which was set equal to the
  performance of the average district
• An amount is estimated to educate an average
  student in an average spending district
• 6370 in 1994-95 dollars (8125)
• Cost indices are calculated for each district,
  which, when multiplied by the average cost, yield
  the estimated cost for educating students to an
  adequate level in that district

73
Reschovsky and Imazekis Economic Cost Function
for WI

• Cost indices for WI range from 0.5 to 4.24
• Milwaukee is the district with the highest index,
  so the cost to educate its pupils is equal to
  6370 x 4.24 27,008 (34,486 in 2005)
• Authors note that this is without a measure of
  efficiency when one is added to account for all
  factors that lead spending to be higher,
  including the number of low-income students
  served, it reduces Milwaukees index to 1.81,
  lowering the per-pupil to 11,530 (14,723 in
  2005 dollars)

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IWF/Normans Professional Judgment Model

• Began with review of research to identify core
  resource issues
• Convened a panel of educational experts in
  December of 1998 to make recommendations about
  those issues
• Surveyed WI principals and a sample of teachers
  to get their input on what is necessary to teach
  students to standards
• The panel of experts convened in May 1999 used
  research, survey data, and their own expertise to
  make resource recommendations

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Resource Recommendations of IWF Expert Panel in
May of 1999
Elementary Middle High
Class size 15 K-3 20 4-5 20 20
School Size 350 500 600-1000
Classroom Materials and Technology 1 computer/4 students tech training support 1 computer/4 students tech training support 1 computer/4 students tech training support
Curriculum Mandatory full day K-5 arts Broad curriculum with FL Arts Advanced FL and core options arts
Support Services Remedial/ESL teachers guidance, social work Plus special ed specialists and school psychologist Plus .5 specialist for gifted and .5 for at-risk students
Staff Development Staff Development coordinator in school Release time needed 1 hr/day 0.5 Staff development specialist
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IWF/Normans Professional Judgment Model

• The result was a basic per-pupil foundation
  amount of 8500 in 2000-01 (9345 in 2005), plus
• 3200 (3518) for low-income students
• 700 (770) for rural districts
• 120 (132) for all districts for help with the
  implementation of new programs
• Full-state funding of special education and
  limited English proficiency programs

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Comparing the Numbers (2005)
Reschovsky Imazekis Cost Function Norman/IWF Professional Judgment
Average student in average district 8,125 9,330
Additional per low-income student 12,932 (extra weight of 1.59) 3,518
Low-income student in average district 21,066 12,848
Student in Milwaukee 34,486 14,719
Student in White Lake 27,167 12,719
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• 6. CPRE Wisconsin
• School Finance Adequacy Initiative

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School Finance Shifted with State Standards Based
Reform (and NCLB)

• Message of Standards-Based Education Reform
• Teach students to high standards
• Requires a doubling or tripling of results!
• To accomplish this goal, need to focus on
  instructional, staffing, management and other
  strategies that combined will boost student
  performance
• Begin to do this with extant money, so .
• Imperative first to use current money better
• Adequacy provides the option of asking for more
  money but from the position of first
  restructuring and reallocating

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School Finance Shift

• Provide adequacy and improve equity
• Reposition school finance from technical arena of
  formulas to supportive center of the education
  system -- NRC panel report
• What works and how much does it cost?
• How much money is needed to teach all students to
  performance levels, including both extant and any
  new resources, which likely will be required
  except in New Jersey and Connecticut

81
Vincent v. Voight Case Virtually Created a WI
Adequacy Standard

• School finance system must provide resources
  adequate to educate students to or above
  proficiency standards in mathematics, science,
  social studies and reading/language arts, and to
  provide instruction in art, music, and physical
  education.
• A rigorous standard because, according to NAEP
  standards, Wisconsin educates only about 35 of
  students to proficiency in mathematics and
  reading in grades 4 and 8, and probably less in
  high school grades

82
Change in School Finance

• State funds an adequate amount staff for
  effective strategies and salary levels and
  structures to recruit and retain high quality
  staff probably through a foundation type of
  formula
• Districts provide schools an adequate amount via
  needs-based funding formula
• Schools reallocate dollars to more effective,
  school-wide educational strategies
• System reinforces these school finance shifts
  with incentives and strategies to improve
  instructional quality so teachers can
  successfully teach students to standards
  including new forms of compensation

83
Determining an Adequate Fiscal Base

• Difficult, could argue this is THE school finance
  research issue today
• And currently, there are many approaches
• Successful district approach expenditures where
  students meet performance targets (IL, OH, KS)
• Economic cost function research NY, WI, TX, IL,
  NB
• Professional judgment on quality inputs WY, WI,
  MD, KY, SC, NY, MS, NB, KS, MT 2nd generation
  approaches needed
• Evidence-based approach NJ, KY, AR, AZ, WY
  and in the future, Wisconsin

84
Determining an Adequate Fiscal Base

• Successful district and cost function approaches
  produce an expenditure number but no information
  on how the dollars would be used
• Professional judgment and evidence-based
  approaches provide both an expenditure number and
  information on how the dollars could be used, or
  at least how the expenditure number was determined

85
Successful District

• Use expenditure and achievement data to identify
  successful districts -- districts that produce
  desired results
• Eliminate unusual districts from analysis
  very high wealth, very large, very small, very
  high spending, etc.
• From the reduced universe, find districts that
  actually produce the performance desired, e.g.,
  have gt70 of children scoring at or above
  proficiency on the state test
• Calculate a weighted average of the
  expenditures per pupil for these districts, as
  well as their average SES characteristics --
  minority, poverty (usually free and reduced
  price lunch), ELL, etc.
• Assume that if these districts can meet a state
  performance benchmark, other districts could too
• Use the calculated expenditure as the expenditure
  in a foundation school finance formula
• Adjust the calculated expenditure per pupil for
  the special needs of other districts small
  rural, sparse, large urban, etc.

86
Successful District

• Advantages
• Provides a clear link between a /PUPIL level and
  a result level
• Relatively simple and straightforward
  policymakers can understand the method
• Draws from actual state districts
• Disadvantages
• Too many atypical districts excluded from
  analysis
• The successful districts are usually relatively
  homogeneous, urban/ rural districts
• Results are difficult to adjust for larger
  (gt2500 students) urban and poorer rural areas,
  and thus often are hotly debated
• Results can be manipulated
• Also does not identify the educational delivery
  system
• Is not now being used by any state
  disadvantages have led to too much controversy

87
Cost Function

• Economic approach using regression analysis to
  identify the cost (/pupil) to produce an outcome
• Dependent variable expenditures per pupil,
  which can be used as the foundation expenditure
• Independent variables characteristics of
  students and districts ( disabled, ELL,
  poverty, size, sparsity, geographic price
  indices, performance level desired, etc.)
• Average expenditure varies with performance level
• Calculate an overall cost adjustment to account
  for district and student needs
• Results are simple an average expenditure and
  an overall cost adjustment

88
Cost Function

• Advantages
• Clearly links a cost level to a result level
• Sophisticated
• Accounts for most key factors that impact costs
• Disadvantages
• Complicated few policymakers understand or trust
  the methodology and not used in any state
• Some scholars question the methodology
• Provides a dollar amount but no indication of a
  delivery strategy
• Also assumes no resource reallocation of existing
  resources
• Huge increments for low income/ELL students 4
• times the average for Milwaukee

89
Next two approaches get inside the Black Box of
schools

• Identify the educational delivery strategies that
  can produce the desired results
• This means creating detailed specifications of
  resources needed to support the delivery
  strategies
• At the school level
• Need prototypic designs for each of elementary,
  middle and high schools
• To the degree possible, the designs must be
  supported by research and evidence-based best
  practices that produce improvements in student
  learning
• Much more detailed specifications and costing
  than are included in most general education
  reform recommendations

90
Professional Judgment

• Education professionals make judgments on what is
  needed at the school level to teach students to
  proficiency standards
• Panels of teachers and administrators identify
  the resource needs for prototypical elementary,
  middle and high schools
• State panels review and revise the proposals of
  various local/regional panels
• State panels also create prototypical district
  design

91
Professional Judgment

• Advantages
• Draws from the expertise of the best educators in
  the state, and perhaps from around the country
• Proposals tailored to the state context
• Disadvantages
• Reflects just professional judgments, no clear
  link to student learning gains
• Being somewhat co-opted as the word gets out,
  meaning many proposals are too generous
• And too many professional judgment panels unable
  to identify evidence or research that
  supports their proposals, which often reflect
  personal belief or personal philosophy

92
Evidence-Based Model

• Draws from research and evidence-based best
  practices to identify those educational delivery
  strategies and their resource needs that are
  linked to student learning gains
• Attempts to back each resource recommendation
  with reference to research and/or best practices
• Given the development of several comprehensive
  school reforms, can draw from those designs,
  which themselves often are based on compilations
  of research-supported practices
• Can also draw from a synthesis of the best
  professional judgment panels
• Can speed up and therefore reduce the cost of
  conducting an adequacy study
• Squares with the evidence-based practice
  required by No Child Left Behind

93
Evidence-Based Model

• Advantages
• Produces a detailed staffing for prototypic
  schools to address all key educational issues,
  with all proposals having a research and/or best
  practices base
• Draws from previous research and adequacy studies
  already conducted around the country each
  element has an evidence rationale
• Avoids educator predilection to make proposals on
  individual philosophy rather than engage in
  evidence-based practice
• Parsimonious but robust a Ford -- not a
  Cadillac not a Yugo
• Generally, additional costs are less than other
  approaches
• Disadvantages
• Not all school elements have a research base, or
  a strong research base
• Should not stand alone needs a state panel of
  leading educators and policymakers to review and
  tailor to any particular state context
• Hard to link all recommendations combined to a
  specific performance
• target

94
Outcome of Latter Two Approaches

• Prototypical school designs staffing needs
• Elementary
• Middle or Intermediate
• High School
• Estimated cost per pupil of each prototype
• Estimate of the student, district and price
  adjustments needed
• Provides resources adequate to enable
  schools/districts to determine most powerful
  educational strategy

95
Components of Prototypical Elementary, Middle
High Schools

• School size
• Administration
• Regular instruction class size
• Specialist instruction/planning prep
• Instructional materials, textbooks, library books
• Strategy for struggling students disabled, low
  income, ESL, GATE such resources will vary by
  incidence of such students in each school
  tutoring, ELL, extended day, summer school
• Professional development
• Pupil support

96
Key School Components

• Technology school computers software
  including upgrading and maintenance costs
• Student activities
• Secretarial
• Operations and maintenance
• Food services
• PLUS
• District design
• Preschool
• New Performance Pay Structure and salary levels
• Adjustments for all prototypic designs for
  schools with more and fewer students, and with
  greater and lesser poverty, so each design is
  tailored to size and demographics of each school

97
Arkansas Prototypic School Resources(School unit
of 500 students)

• 1 Principal
• Longer teacher year 10 days more for summer
  training institutes
• 2.5 Instructional Facilitators
• 20-25 Teachers (class size of 15 K-3, 25 4-12)
• 4-6 Specialist Teachers art, music, pe, library
  prep time more for HS
• Strategy for struggling students base of 1
  Reading Tutor one position for each 20 poverty
  40 more for low income ELL
• Census funding for most disabilities full state
  funding for severe disabilities
• Parent outreach/student support -- 1 for each 20
  poverty 1counselor in middle school and 2
  counselors in secondary schools
• 250/pupil for technology -- hardware and
  software
• 250/pupil for texts and other equipment and
  materials
• 50/pupil for professional development trainers
• Supervisory aides for lunch, playground and bus
  duty

98
Wisconsin Prototypical School Resources

• A draft report will be prepared with preliminary
  recommendations for all program elements for
  prototypical schools for the next meeting
• This report and modifications will be discussed
  at the October and January meetings
• Costs and possible school finance structures of
  final recommendations will be presented at an
  April meeting

99
Adjustments for the Second Year

• Labor market study focusing at least on Milwaukee
  adequate levels of teacher salary
• Probably propose a new type of knowledge and
  skills-based salary schedule as a better vehicle
  for providing pay increases
• Assess benefits, largely health benefits, and
  propose a more efficient approach

100
Adjustments for the Second Year

• Possible additional topics
• Geographic price indices
• Income factor to the property wealth per pupil
  figure
• Central office design to complement the various
  school prototype designs
• Maybe designs for operations and maintenance

101
The Adequacy Initiative
GOAL From Equity To Adequacy
Equal Access to Tax Base
Sufficient Spending for High-Standards Education