Executive Summary

Times and Situations Change

In 1896, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was created.  The twelve companies that made up the original DJIA were the industrial giants¹.  Today, only one of the original twelve companies remains in the DJIA – General Electric.  The others have either gone out of business or have been absorbed by other companies and/or bear little resemblance to the original company.  

In 1885², the Constitution of the State of Florida mandated a free K-12 Public Education System (“K-12”).  Its role was simple - teach children math, reading, writing and history, etc.  Since that time, K-12 has grown unchecked into an entity which is top heavy, burdened with non educational tasks, hamstrung with mandates sent down by Tallahassee and Washington and in some cases somewhat controlled by the courts.  Its behemoth size consumes an incredible portion of the public treasury and when compared globally largely delivers an inferior product.  It did not grow to its current size with one bite.  It grew “one bite at a time”.  The pictorial to the left shows the progression from 1885 to 2008.

Comparing Business and Government Solutions

From time to time, businesses must “restructure” or “reinvent themselves” stripping away unnecessary departments, functions and waste or face going out of business or being bought by someone else who can and will restructure the company.  

K-12 (government), on the other hand, can just raise more tax revenues to cover waste and unnecessary departments and functions.

Sobering Statistics

The following statistics should give you pause.

Class Size Amendment (“CSA”)

The taxpayers of the State of Florida have been led to believe that there is a need to continue to build classrooms to meet the requirements of the Class Size Amendment.  It will probably come as a great shock to most to find out that currently statewide:
•    There is one existing teacher for every 14.6 Students³.
•    There is one existing classroom for every 17.7 students.
•    The state budget for 2007 – 2008 would add approximately 6,918 more classrooms which would result in one classroom for every 16.9 students.
A puzzling question is, “Why, if there are more than enough classrooms are students sitting in classrooms with far greater numbers of students than required by the CSA?”

Global Performance

Our children will have to be prepared to compete in a global economy.  In studies comparing the academic performance of students of difference countries, the U.S. does not fair well. In one study cited in this document, the U.S. came in at 11th in science and 15th in math.  

In a second cited study, the U.S. came in 21st out of 26.  The U.S. academic performance exceeded only Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Mexico, even though the U.S. outspends every other country in this study when adjusted for purchasing power parity - in one case, as much as 5 times more!

Burden to Taxpayers

The tax burden of the ballooning government has become so great⁴, that it is crushing Florida taxpayers.  Education is by far the largest sector of the state budget⁵ – 34%.  And, K-12 spends 57% of the 34% or 19.4% of the total state budget.  It is largely funded through property tax and K-12 spends the majority of the public funds spent at the county level.  Further, the majority of ALL K-12 education is funded by property taxes⁶ - both “local” and through the “Effort Required Local” of the Florida Education Finance Program.

Without further classroom construction (except in a few cases), the taxpayers of the state would breathe a collective sigh of relief!

Reinvention

Just as businesses must be reinvented from time to time, government in the State of Florida must be reinvented before it brings the entire state to its knees⁷. Taking a “worst first” approach, K-12 should be the starting place.  It is a monumental task, but it can and must be done.  

Goal

The reinvented K-12 must strip away as much overhead, undo unnecessary mandates and remove as many non educational functions as possible providing the funds to put the focus on the classroom, where education is occurring.  In the process, the tax burden on the taxpayers will be reduced.  In order to accomplish this goal, a K-12 Reinvention Task Force must be created.  

Fear and Reassurance

Education has been seen as “off limits” for politicians.  They are simply afraid of the educational lobby and the backlash from the teachers.  As a group, teachers believe that there is not enough money for education.  What they do not understand is the huge amount of money that is spent in the school districts.  There is more than enough, but a huge portion is being spent to fund new classrooms and a sizable portion is being spent as overhead in the county office rather than in the classroom.  When teachers understand that the reinvention would focus resources in the classroom and that they would be the biggest beneficiaries of this process, they should be excited and very supportive.  

Teachers would be a major resource for this task force.  They are where “the action is”.  They would be so very important in identifying the onerous mandates and non educational issues which keep them from teaching and the students from learning.  Their voices would be heard and their input would be invaluable.  

Task Force Make Up

The Task Force needs the leadership of business executives who are used to making tough decisions.  The final product of the Task Force would be a Transition Plan.  Most likely, the Transition Plan would require some major legislative and judicial, as well as administrative changes.   Therefore, the make up of the Task Force should include key leaders from government and representation from education – from the classroom to Tallahassee.  

The Next Step

This draft plan provides background information on K-12 to support the above claims and a logical “high level” approach to reinventing K-12.  It is not the final product, but one to get leaders engaged in an intellectual discussion.  The discussion should be quickly followed by a modified Task Force Plan.  The Task Force should be quickly commissioned so that work can begin shortly.  The goal should be to have a report within a year.

Reinventing the K-12 Public Education System is a monumental task, but it must be done.  When completed, it could become the model for all of the United States.

Footnotes:

¹http://www.djindexes.com/DJIA110/learning-center/

²Interestingly, the 1885 Constitution stated: “Any incorporated town or city may constitute a School District.” In those days, there were few counties. K-12 school district did not become coterminous with counties until sometime later.

³The spreadsheet in Exhibit 1 shows the numbers district by district along with source data. I suspect that there will be major objections from those in the educational community who would say that a large number of these teachers are for Exceptional Children, Children for whom English is a second language, etc. This is true, but the fact remains that there are A LOT of teachers and their best utilization needs to be considered.

⁴According to the Tax Foundation, Florida now has the 12th highest tax burden of the 50 states, behind Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Rhode Island, Nevada, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maine. http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/

⁵Source: http://peoplesbudget.state.fl.us/govpriorities.aspx

⁶The Property Tax Reform Committee Preliminary Report and Recommendations http://www.propertytaxreform.state.fl.us

⁷It already has essentially “knocked out” real estate. Unchecked, the rest of the state economy could soon follow.