Improve Schools Without a Spending Increase?  Yes We Can!
New study based on nationwide research shows student learning improves when principals control budget, staff

Olympia – While the Legislature deliberates over bills from the Basic Education Task Force and the Full Funding Coalition which would dramatically increase state spending on K-12 education, Washington Policy Center released a groundbreaking new education reform plan: Eight Practical Ways to Reverse the Decline of Public Schools.  This plan, which would not require large tax increases, is based on the success of decentralization reforms in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Oakland and San Francisco.  The plan includes 8 core recommendations:

• Put the principal in charge of the school’s budget and teaching staff
• Give parents choice among public schools
• Let teachers teach
• Double teacher pay
• Replace the WASL with a better standard
• Create no-excuses schools
• Transparency - put school budgets and teacher qualifications online
• Make the Superintendent of Public Instruction an appointed office

WPC’s education reform plan Eight Practical Ways to Reverse the Decline of Public Schools recommends reforms which would give school principals the management tools they need to increase the effectiveness of each teacher in every classroom.

“Right now there is a serious systemwide lack of authority, responsibility, and accountability in our public schools,” said study author Liv Finne, director of WPC’s Center for Education.  “Our research indicates that an effective teacher is more important than any other single factor, including class size, in raising student achievement.  Principals need authority over their budgets and staff to give our students the best teachers possible.”

“Washington Policy Center’s Education Reform Plan offers us a shot at real change for our schools.  The Center offers commonsense, practical reforms which will improve learning for children, and help make Washington Number One in public education,” says education reformer and prominent Seattle-area philanthropist Scott Oki.

The study’s findings show the real problem in K-12 education is not a lack of money, but a lack of effective management practices.   WPC’s education reform plan does not require additional spending beyond the $9 billion annually spent to educate Washington’s one million public school students.  Since 1993, lawmakers have spent $5 billion on more than 80 targeted education reform programs.  These targeted programs have not improved student achievement.  Other indicators reveal that public schools fail to prepare large numbers of students for college or the workplace.

With the state facing an $8 billion spending shortfall, and our students falling behind, it is imperative to improve the way current dollars are being spent to educate our students.  WPC’s education reform plan provides clear, constructive ways to reform schools within existing revenue.  “Instead of proposing expensive education programs with no track record of success, our plan proposes a series of management reforms which are working in other cities and states,” says Liv Finne.  “Yes we can improve public education.”