School Committee member, Phil Lenz, has a spreadsheet on his website showing the per pupil expenditures and other information by district. Let me use that information to illustrate a few points. I posted here that I was disappointed that the school department included a slide in their three year plan presentation which I thought was superfluous. It showed that Dartmouth's per pupil expenditure was below the state average.
Dartmouth's per pupil expenditure is $9,284.43. The state average is $11,858.79. Taking that as a percentage, Dartmouth spends 78% of the state average per pupil. That number, in and of itself, tells you something but it is not the whole picture. If you take the per pupil spending as a percentage of each category, ...
...you can find out how Dartmouth compares to the state average spending in each those categories. If we spent the same proportion of our budget in the same way as the average district, all the percentages for Dartmouth in each category would be 78%, but they are not.
Areas where Dartmouth spends more than or equal to the state average include out-of-district tuition which comes in at a whopping 241%, guidance counseling and testing at 101%, and pupil services at 100%.
Areas where Dartmouth spends less than the state average but more than the 78% (78% is the amount that we spend per pupil to the state average)are administration at 90% and classroom teachers and specialists at 86%.
Areas where we spend less than 78% of the state average include other teaching services at 77%, operations and maintenance at 73%, instructional leadership at 68%, instructional materials and technology at 54%, insurance and retirement 51%, and professional development at 33%.
Now remember that 78% is the percentage of the state average that Dartmouth spends per pupil. Percentages above 78% are areas where we spend a greater proportion of our budget than the average district does. Below 78%, we spend less than the average district does.
Even these comparisons, while giving more insight that a simple overall per student expenditure comparison, can be misleading. Dartmouth has a higher percentage of highly qualified teachers than the state average. That may be one reason that our professional development spending is very low and it may not, the numbers can't tell us that.
As I said, statistics are slippery things. I posted here, using the Water Department as an example, that the important measure is results, not spending.
One final note before I hear about it in comments, I am not calling anyone slippery. I am pointing out that while statistics are useful tools, they don't tell the whole story, and we must realize their limitations when discussing them.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Statistics are slippery things, Per pupil spending
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7 comments:
You only deride statistics when they're contrary to your point of view, Mr. Trimble. Comparing Dartmouth to state averages is entirely appropriate, whether it be with regard to per pupil spending, property tax burden, or any other comparative data.
Face it, Dartmouth is underfunded. Perhaps you and the Hathaway Road braintrust dislike that being stated and proven time and again. But, the facts are what they are. Dartmouth lacks the resources necessary to provide our children with the quality of education previous generations received. The Town has changed for the worse, largely due to you and those of your ilk, Mr. Trimble.
Comparisons to state averages do provide some information, that is true. We can also compare the average price of a new home or the average annual wages between this area and other areas of the state.
Compare Dartmouth to other coastal communities when considering average price of a new home when you look into that angle.
Anon 5:42, you hit the nail right on the head. Very well said. They spend most of their time looking for a smoking gun rather than being proactive.
Anon, 5:42, how long do you think Dartmouth has been "underfunded"? Do you think it just happened overnight? Do you think it was Bill, et al, that suddenly, in the dark of night, wiped out Dartmouth's finances?
You face it. No one, except those in government prior to Bill, is responsible for the state of Dartmouth's finances. It sounds like you are saying that everything in Dartmouth was hunky-dory before Bill Trimble and his "ilk," and "the Hathaway Road braintrust" came on the scene. If that is what you are indeed stating, can you tell us all why, then, we needed money in overrides before Bill, etc., even vocalized anything you did not like to hear?
Sounds like someone in the Town/school was not managing appropriately all these previous years. Or, do you subscribe to the theory that everything, including the spending of taxpayer money, was done in the "best interests of the Town"?
Tell us all, please, just how Bill is responsible for the Town's being "changed for the worse"? Is it because he doesn't support a lack of accountability, responsibility, or transparency?
He'd like to see where the money goes and will go: accountability.
Can you, Anon 5:42, tell us where the money went if it did not go to the children and their textbooks and technology all these years (not just the past few years when heat, utilities, health insurance, pensions, and the Voke assessment went up, but ALL these past years)?
It has to have been spent on something. What?
And was that "something" responsibly spent?
And aren't managers supposed to be able to foresee trends that could potentially result in cash problems, thus working toward solutions to mitigate a negative impact? (See the Town Charter, Section 5-3.)
He'd like to see spending that does not continue to rely on the taxpayers, you and me, and I assume you are a taxpayer as well. That's called responsibility. I see nothing wrong with that, when we all are living under the cloud of economic uncertainty in this country, some more than others.
How can you justify some of the salaries that have been given out or being asked for, when individuals fully well know the financial state we are in?
He'd like to see where, when, and how decisions have been made, and the reasoning behind them: transparency. Where are our Executive Session minutes all these years? Who decided these sweetheart deals immersed in the wording of the contracts that continue to grow better and better with each passing renegotiation?
WHERE IS A PLAN that would hold individuals accountable and responsible, and provide that transparency if directives for the financial running of the town actually existed in black-and-white?
The lack of accountability, responsibility, and transparency still exists in spades in this town.
Tell us all, Anon 5:42, how it does not.
One thing I did learn from my college years and life in general is that numbers don't lie but statistics rarely give you the whole picture. Statistics can easily be used to support one's agenda because that which doesn't support one's argument is usually left out.
I hardly think Mr. Trimble & Co. can be held responsible for the failures of the school dept. I would also like to know when and how it has been proven time and again that Dartmouth is underfunded. With statistics???
Wow, I've never had an ilk before! What is my ilk as you see it?
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