From the bcct:
Little bang for local school district bucks
axpayers in the Central Bucks and Pennridge school districts are getting the most bang for their buck in Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties, according to a recent report from The Center for American Progress.
The think tank released a report Wednesday that shows Central Bucks and Pennridge spent the least amount of money per student in 2008 (the most recent data the center had), but the students got some of the highest scores on standardized tests. Only 13 other school districts in the state earned the center's highest rating.
On the other end of the "educational efficiency" scale are Bensalem Township, Bristol Township and Morrisville school districts, which spend more money per student and have students who earn lower test scores. Ulrich Boser, the senior fellow at the center who did the study, said 20 other school districts in Pennsylvania were also ranked in the bottom tier. Bristol Township school district officials said in a statement Wednesday that they don't believe the center's report is credible.
"Its propagators, who by their own admission have an axe to grind, appear to have mindlessly crunched a bunch of numbers that reward school districts with the highest populations," district spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said in the statement.
Kelliher added later in an interview: "I don't know what their axe is to grind, but there's an axe to grind. + They're going somewhere with this. It's unfair to smaller school districts."
Several school districts that have smaller student populations than Bristol Township school district ranked higher on the center's efficiency scale: Centennial, Upper Moreland, Quakertown, Hatboro-Horsham, Palisades, New Hope-Solebury and Bristol Borough.
And Central Bucks Superintendent N. Robert Laws said he thinks his district's efficiency rating has little to do with its significant size.
"I know why we're efficient," he said."Our board has made some very tough decisions that have improved efficiency - one being the number of times we have redistricted. The bus routing. The expanded walking. The challenge to the assessments. We never overbuilt. We still have modular classrooms in some places, and that was all by design - to keep the building down and make sure the debt didn't get too high. Our use of technology is phenomenal."
Laws and Pennridge Superintendent Robert Kish said their districts are also very efficient because they're careful about the number of teachers they have per student, where they're teaching and what they're teaching. Careful examination of and investment in curriculum helps the students learn more and get higher test scores, Kish said.
The Center for American Progress looked at 9,000 school districts across the country, 495 of which were in Pennsylvania. The goal of the study, Boser said, was to see how educational funding relates to student achievement.
"What we're looking at now and what's been the sea change in education is moving school districts to look at outcomes," Boser said. "We just need to think more broadly about how our education systems function."
The center gathered demographic and spending data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics. It looked at the total student enrollment in 2008, the number of students who participate in the school lunch program (who are considered low income), the number of students in special education programs and per-pupil spending. It made adjustments for cost of living.
The center also gathered standardized test results from the New America Foundation's Federal Education Budget Project. It looked at scores in fourth grade math and reading, eighth grade math and reading, and high school math and reading tests, and how students in each district compared to their peers.
Boser said they found large differences in efficiency and productivity between states and within states. School districts need to look differently at how they measure educational success, Boser said in a press release. "The goal must be nothing short of a breakthrough in performance that guarantees that every dollar is directed at producing high achievement for all students."
Christina Kristofic can be reached at 215-345-3079 or ckristofic@phillyBurbs.com. Follow Christina on Twitter at twitter.com/ckristofic.
