by  J. Trout Lowen

When nearly one-third of Minnesota’s school districts went to voters last November asking for more money, it raised a red flag among education experts and policymakers.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say [the system] is broken, but given the number of levies that people wanted to pass … there clearly is a sense that we need more money,” says Nicola Alexander, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration.

But how much money, and where should it come from? The state? Local taxpayers?

The answer to those questions depends on the outcomes Minnesotans want their educational system to achieve, says Alexander, whose research focuses on K–12 education financing and its impact on educational equity, adequacy, and fairness. “You may not be able to demand as much if you’re not willing to pay as much.”

The 2002 federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) charged schools across the country with raising academic standards and performance for all students. Increasingly, education experts and policymakers are realizing that it will take more money than Minnesota and most other states are currently spending to meet those goals. As districts struggle to make up the difference between state and federal funding with local dollars, education experts agree that disparities between districts are growing.

“If the states don’t contribute a floor that is high enough, then more and more districts are going to feel the need to have an add-on [funding source],” Alexander says. “The more districts that feel the need to have an add-on, the more likely it is that there are to be disparities between districts … the more likely there are going to be disparities between the outcomes that we have.”

Nicola Alexander

When states contribute a higher percentage of education funding, there’s greater equity between districts, says Alexander, because districts with fewer resources aren’t relying on local property taxpayers to fund basic educational costs. But more state funding often translates into less local control over how that money is spent.

“These are the tensions that policymakers face,” she says.

Just equalizing funding between districts may not be enough to achieve the educational outcomes policymakers and society want. That’s where the issue of adequacy comes into play.

“So it ends up that both sides may be right,” says Alexander. “The state may say, ‘I’ve given you lots of money,’ and the districts may still respond sincerely ‘That is not enough given the things that you’re asking us to do, both at the federal level and at the state level.’”

State equity versus local control

In Minnesota, state dollars account for 79.9 percent of K–12 education funding—down 6.8 percentage points since 2002, when the state took over the bulk of education funding.

The state’s funding formula attempts to even the playing field by providing supplemental aid to districts with higher education costs, for example large numbers of students from lower-income families or students with limited English proficiency, and to sparsely populated districts that face higher costs for transportation.

Mindy Greiling

However, flat or declining state contributions between 2003 and 2005 increased the burden for local property taxpayers. In poorer districts—many of the same districts that have higher costs—taxpayers simply can’t afford to pay more, says Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL- Roseville), chair of the House Education Finance Committee and an alumna of the college. In other districts, taxpayers are just saying no to higher taxes.

Greiling (M.A. ’74) is co-chair, with Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka), of a bipartisan task force that began meeting in late October to overhaul the state’s education funding formula, with the goal of preparing every K–12 student for college. “I can’t think of anyone on the task force who has said schools have enough,” Greiling says.

To determine how much is enough, the task force is looking to a report on the real cost of meeting the state’s educational goals, which was issued by P.S. Minnesota, a non-partisan coalition of education and parent groups that advocates for public education funding. The November report used two methodologies to estimate costs per pupil. One asked experienced educators to calculate the resources needed to meet the NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress Standards. The other evaluated actual spending in districts that meet, or are on target to meet, NCLB standards.

In both analyses the state’s spending on education came up short, by $1.7 billion in the first model and by $1 billion in the second. Minnesota’s school superintendents recently put the shortfall at $2 billion, Greiling says.

But recognizing a problem and solving it are two different things, and Greiling cautions that the state won’t be coming up with an extra billion dollars for education any time soon. What the task force hopes to do, she says, is develop a new funding formula and adopt it by statute, as some other states have, and then develop a plan to fully fund it over the next two or three biennium.

One idea under discussion would ask districts to submit plans for using dollars to fund proven strategies that improve outcomes, such as smaller class sizes, higher teacher pay, or early childhood education. That’s where University and college research can play a huge role.

One area of research that interests Greiling is the role of parents in the K–12 education process. Educational psychology professor Sandra Christenson has researched and written extensively on the impact of family involvement on student behavior and learning, particularly in regards to marginalized students and those at risk for educational failure. She is careful to differentiate the old assumptions about parental involvement from her findings concerning constructive family-school partnerships. In a 2001 book, School and Families: Creating Essential Connections for Learning (Guilford Press), she and co-author Susan Sheridan noted positive correlations between family involvement in K–12 schooling and fewer special education referrals, increased college enrollment, improved attendance, lower dropout rates, and a number of other variables.

This is just one example of the significant body of research into effective educational approaches and interventions that the college has amassed over decades. “The challenge has been one of how to strategically share these research-based practices in a meaningful way that promotes their adoption by professionals,” says David R. Johnson, associate dean for research and policy.

Johnson is leading the charge to make sure that college research informs interactions with policymakers. College faculty and staff consult directly with legislators and committees and testify at legislative hearings. The college also has launched a Policy Breakfast Series to gather government and community leaders for meaningful exchanges around topics of mutual interest, such as a recent discussion of postsecondary readiness (see “Community”). Johnson also works closely with Heidi Barajas, associate dean for outreach and community engagement, to connect research to the college’s relationships with its communities.

Somewhere in the middle

Patricia Harvey

The debate over education funding is hardly unique to Minnesota. Across the country, states are struggling to find the right mix, says Patricia Harvey, senior fellow at the National Center on Education and the Economy, former superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, and a member of the college Dean’s Advisory Council.

West Virginia and New Jersey are doing the best job on finance issues, Harvey says, earning grades of ‘A’ and ‘A-,’ respectively, in Education Week’s Quality Counts 2008 report on the nation’s schools. Minnesota earned a ‘C+’, the same grade given to the nation’s education system overall, when judged on eight measures concerning distribution of resources.

More money is not the only answer, Harvey says, but it’s part of it. “There are many things we are just not attentive to, and that takes money. We know from ACTs that rigor counts … We know that for kids to be ready for college not only do they need to be involved in rigorous coursework, they need more of it.”

Related stories

When the levy fails

Uneven funding creates education by ZIP code

ILLUSTRATION: Illustration Works
PHOTOS: Leo Kim, Mindy Greiling courtesy the Minnesota House of Representatives, courtesy Patricia Harvey

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