Cuts in federal spending typically draw indignation from those affected, and President Trump’s recent education budget proposal was certainly no exception. The teachers unions, especially, were loud, derisive and hyperbolic in their responses. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten claimed the cuts were “manifestly cruel to children and catastrophic to public schools.” National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García blamed Betsy DeVos, claiming that the secretary of Education’s goal is to “slash funding for public schools, using voucher schemes to funnel taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.”
But the reality does not warrant the union leaders’ responses. The budget cuts — which have to still run through the congressional gamut before becoming law — are hardly worth the vitriol.
In a nutshell, the budget eliminates funding for programs “that have achieved their original purpose, duplicate other programs, are narrowly focused, or are unable to demonstrate effectiveness.” Alaska Native Education, Native Hawaiian Education and 21st Century Community Learning Centers are among those on the chopping block.
All in all, the proposed budget will pare federal spending by $9 billion, which represents a 13 percent cut. Is a 13 percent cut worth the outcry? Hardly.
First of all, 92 percent of education spending comes from state and local sources, while federal dollars account for just 8 percent. Reducing that 8 percent by 13 percent means that each state will be losing about 1 percent of its total education funding. That’s it. Hardly a slash. And of course any state that loses federal dollars (Alaska and Hawaii take note) is perfectly capable of restoring funding via the legislative process.
As for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, they are typical of bureaucratic waste. As Brookings Institution’s Mark Dynarski writes, “To date, more than $12 billion of federal tax money has been spent on a program that a preponderance of evidence indicates doesn’t help students.”
It’s also instructive to look at the bigger picture and examine the effect that spending has on student achievement. And it has been proven time and again that there really is no correlation. Between 1970 and 2012, our education spending tripled (correcting for inflation) and student achievement was flat. On the 2015 PISA test, which measures math, reading and science for 15-year-olds in 72 countries, the U.S. was in the middle of the pack — average in science and reading, but below average in math, trailing Estonia, Poland, Finland et al, while considerably outspending those countries. Additionally, a stunning 60 percent of all U.S. students now entering college need remediation.
The other budget issue for the naysayers is the inclusion of $1.4 billion targeted to “support new investments in public and private school choice.” Most of this money would be used to increase the part of the existing Title 1 program that provides money to school districts “that agree to adopt weighted student funding combined with open enrollment systems that allow federal, state and local funds to follow students to the public school of their choice.”
President Trump recently told Congress, “We need to return decisions regarding education back to the state and local levels, while advancing opportunities for parents and students to choose, from all available options, the school that best fits their needs to learn and succeed.”
Trump is right on target here. Education should not be controlled by a federal bureaucracy. As Pacific Research Institute scholar Lance Izumi told me, “Rising federal education spending and intrusion into education policymaking have done little to improve the achievement of our children, while making it even more difficult for parents to control the education their children receive. The Trump education budget emphasizes that Washington is not the answer to our education woes, but, rather, that local control, and especially empowering parents to make the best education choices for their children, is the best hope for our young people and for America.”
Only those with a special interest in maintaining the failing status quo could disagree.
Larry Sand, a retired teacher, is president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network.