What does it cost to educate a child, asks The Lynden Tribune in a recent article on school funding.  Representative Vincent Buys (R-Lynden), while urging the importance of school funding, cites Washington Policy Center research that taxpayers are providing on average $12,000 per student statewide, with the state providing 36 percent increase in the last four years. The Lynden Tribune cites its own figures on school funding, relying on the local school district’s report that state taxpayers are providing only $6,571 to educate each student in Lynden. I can explain the difference.  

The WPC $12,000 number includes all local, state and federal funding for all students, on average statewide, from official government reports, here, for school year 2015-16. The $6,571 Lynden Tribune number reports only state funding for “regular apportionment,” that is, for the general education student.

Yet schools rely on funding from more than this one revenue account. In addition to “regular apportionment,” the Lynden School District receives revenue from 21 additional state and federal fund accounts, including funding for special education, transitional bilingual students, highly capable students, transportation, and more. These accounts provide an additional $2,200 per student to the Lynden School District. https://www.k12.wa.us/safs/rep/app/1617/37504app.pdf

But that is not all. Lynden taxpayers also provide local levy and other funding. These revenue sources provide an additional $2,160 per student. So the total amount provided by taxpayers to Lynden Public Schools is nearly $11,000 per student, about $1,000 less per student than the state average. https://fiscal.wa.gov/K12Districts.aspx.

Now, with this more complete picture of school funding in Lynden, readers are better equipped to answer the opening question of The Lynden Tribune article:  “What does it cost to educate a student?” By way of comparison, The Lynden Tribune reports the cost of educating a student at a private school. Annual tuition at a local private school, Lynden Christian School, is $7,000.  

This means a private school in Lynden is able to educate a general education student for approximately the same amount the state provides for a similar student. Yet the public schools receive considerably more per student, nearly double, this cost. Some of these extra funds are needed to educate students with special needs, but school managers are still able to divert considerable sums to expand district bureaucracies and fulfill the demands of powerful unions.   

The public schools do not need more money. The public schools need better ways to spend the money they now have. A good question to bring more clarity to school finance in Lynden would be to ask how public school officials are spending the extra money they now receive. An open, transparent, and frank discussion of where the money is now going would go a long way towards delivering more money to school classrooms, where it is most needed.