Lingering Problems

Five of the many problems which plague public education are discussed in the pages which follow: the poor condition of many school buildings, the perceived lack of safety and discipline, problems related to adequate and equitable financing, the difficulty of meeting the needs of all students, and access to, and appropriate use of, computer technology.

1. The Condition of Wisconsin’s School Buildings

Over the past decade, there have been numerous studies which have concluded that a significant proportion of the nation’s school buildings have problems related to inadequate maintenance, obsolescence, environmental hazards, overcrowding, and unsound structures. For example, a national study by the American Association of School Administrators in 1992 concluded that 74% of school facilities should be replaced or repaired immediately. An additional 12% were identified as inadequate places of learning (Hanson, 1992). Buildings with these characteristics are most likely to be found in urban and rural school districts.

Typically, the justification for having high quality schools is based on appeals to safety or economics. However, Frazier (1993) reminds us that school conditions can affect student learning.

In 1994, the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators (AWSA) and the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) collaborated to gather information about public school buildings in Wisconsin. Although the results of this study are a few years old, there is little reason to believe that they are are no longer applicable.

In fact, conditions in many school districts may have worsened in recent years. Since 1993, 61% of superintendents report delaying building maintenance or improvement projects, 56% say they are spending less on maintenance of building and grounds, while 61% say they are spending less for improvements of buildings and grounds. (See the discussion under Public School Funding for additional information).

Selected findings from the 1994 study of Wisconsin’s school buildings follow:

Building Conditions

• In general, principals report that most school buildings in Wisconsin are in reasonably good shape. However, slightly more than ten percent of the buildings (10.2%) were identified by the principals as being in poor physical condition. Statewide, this represents about 200 buildings.
• The lowest-rated buildings are somewhat more likely to be found in rural or urban areas, whereas the top-rated buildings are more likely to be a feature of suburban or small city school districts.

Programs and Services

• About one-fourth of all buildings (27.3% or 552 buildings throughout the state) were judged as not meeting student and program needs.
• One-eighth of all school buildings make use of portable classrooms. These buildings average slightly more than two portable classrooms each (2.27). However, there are more extreme cases; twenty buildings use from three to ten portable classrooms.
• Air conditioning is a rarity in the majority of classrooms in Wisconsin; nearly two-thirds of the buildings do not have a single classroom which is air conditioned. At the other extreme, in nearly 15% of buildings all of the classrooms are air conditioned.
• Six percent of Wisconsin’s school buildings do not have a separate space for a library/media center. Of these, 75% serve elementary age students.
• All public schools in Wisconsin are required to offer courses in the arts and other enrichment areas. However, schools are not required to have a special room for instruction. Nonetheless, most schools have set aside space in which these subjects are taught by certified, licensed teachers. The greatest percent of buildings have set aside rooms for art (87%), followed by a computer lab (79%), and rooms for chorus/choir (67%) and band/orchestra (64%).

2. Violence & Discipline

As noted earlier in this paper, Americans believe that some of the most serious problems facing the public schools relate to issues of safety and discipline. (See the discussion under Selected Gallup Poll Results).

Students’ Perceptions About Violence, Social Tension, and Equality

A national survey of 2,524 public school students asked their opinions on violence, social tension, and equality among teenagers (Louis Harris and Associates, 1996).

The most significant conclusion of this study is that schools can take steps to have a positive effect on how well students get along with each other. This is an important finding because many educators feel they have no control over the social conditions which confront their students and which they feel represent the major source of discipline and behavior problems.

Three factors were identified as being most important in affecting relationships among students: (1) teachers’ relationships with students, (2) the quality of education, and (3) the social skills that teachers give to students.

Safety and Discipline in Wisconsin Public Schools

A 1994 statewide poll in Wisconsin by the Wisconsin Education Association Council shows that residents of Wisconsin are as concerned about school safety as adults throughout the country. In fact, every person who participated in a statewide sample of 600 adults indicated that safety was important in determining whether or not a school was a good school (98% said safety was “very important;” 2% said it was “somewhat important”).

More recently, it was found that 36% of adults in Wisconsin believe that safety and discipline problems in the public schools are worse than they were five years ago. Seventeen percent feel that conditions have improved, while one-third say they are about the same. The rest (13%) report that they do not know (WEAC Poll, 1996).

Teachers, of course, deal with issues of safety and discipline every day during the school year. In order to determine their experiences, attitudes, and perceptions, the Wisconsin Education Association Council surveyed 499 teacher members during the period, February 26 - March 6, 1996 (Allen and Leverich, 1996).

Selected findings follow:

• Overall, nearly two-thirds of teachers (63%) say that disruptive behavior on the part of students is a “somewhat” or “very serious” problem.
• Nearly 40% of teachers report that “most” or “almost all” behavior problems are caused by students with special needs. (Statewide, students with special needs represent about 12% of all students).
• Approximately one-fourth of teachers (26%) feel that levels of safety and security are worse than they were five years ago. Nearly one-half of teachers (46%) feel that student disruptions are worse.
• Most teachers feel safe in their schools: 81% of teachers report they feel “very safe” while inside their school building. Likewise, 77% of teachers feel safe in the vicinity of their school.
• From the beginning of the 1994 school year until late February of 1996, between 13% and 16% of teachers report that they either were attacked by a student, received a threatening or obscene telephone call, or had damage to personal property. Of those who report a physical attack, nearly one-third were “attacked” in the process of breaking up a fight between students.
• Over the course of their entire teaching career, 15% of teachers report that they have been injured at least once as a result of breaking up a fight or disciplining students.
• Two-thirds of teachers agree with the statement, “There are some teachers in your school building who need to treat students with more respect."
• 55% of teachers say they need additional training to deal more effectively with the problems of discipline and safety.
• When asked about strategies to deal with safety and discipline problems, most teachers favored consistent enforcement of rules and regulations and smaller class sizes.
• Three-fourths of teachers report that in recent years their school has established new policies or procedures to address problems of safety and security. The policies or procedures are listed below.

3. Public School Funding

Local Property Taxes

Compared with other states, residents of Wisconsin tend to pay higher property taxes. An important reason for this pattern is that local governments in Wisconsin place greater reliance on property taxes than do local governments in most other states.

In addition, since 1970, residential and commercial property owners have borne an increasing share of property taxes, while owners of other forms of property, particularly manufacturing, have seen a decline. For example, in 1970, residential property accounted for 50.6% of net property taxes. That figure reached 64% in 1996. In contrast, manufacturing property, which accounted for 17.7% of the net property taxes in 1970, now represents approximately 5% of the total. Among the reasons for this shift in tax burden is legislation passed in 1974 which exempted manufacturers’ machinery and equipment (M&E) from local property taxes.

Property Tax Levies by Jurisdiction

Elementary and secondary schools collected slightly more than one-half of local property taxes in 1995(96). The percent of taxes collected by local jurisdictions are as follows:

• K-12 schools (52.8%)
• Municipal and Special Districts (24%)
• Counties (16.8%)
• Technical Colleges (5.8%)

Changes in Property Tax Levies

On average, property taxes have grown 6.5% each year from 1970(71) to 1995(96). However, there have been variations in rate increases by jurisdiction. From 1970-1995, municipal and special district taxes have had an annual growth rate of 7.6%. During this same period, county taxes increased at a 5.5% annual rate, while average annual increases for elementary and secondary schools and technical college districts have been 6.2% and 10.7%, respectively (Olin, 1997).

In recent years there have been dramatic changes in property tax levies across the state. In 1995-96 there was less than a 1% increase in the property tax levy for local schools, and in 1996-97, average school tax levies decreased by more than 16%.

Efforts to Reduce Property Taxes

As a result of the provisions in Acts 16 and 27, (see the discussion under Revenue Caps) increases in school costs have slowed, and there will be a short period of property tax relief for the typical owner of residential property in Wisconsin. In 1996, the average Wisconsin home had a tax bill of $2,006. This was $118 lower (5.6%) than in 1995. In 1997, it is estimated that the average homeowner will pay $1,985 in property taxes. Overall, this represents a 1% decline ($21) from 1996 (“Taxes May Drop,” 1997).

However, in 1998, the property tax bill on the average home will increase to $2,127 (a 7% increase over 1997). (Note: The increases in local property taxes could be significantly higher if the assessed value of the property also has increased or if a referendum were passed to increase school spending).

Funding Equity

Per pupil spending varies considerably across Wisconsin’s school districts. The average annual per pupil expenditure was $7,206 in 1996-97. However, thirteen districts spent less than $6,000 per student, whereas spending in ten districts exceeded $10,000 per student.

Under legislation passed in 1995, the state of Wisconsin now pays for approximately two-thirds of the cost of education. (It is important to recognize that is an average figure and that there is considerable variation across districts as to the percent of costs borne by the State).

Where the Money Goes

Critics are quick to point out that even though spending on education has increased during the past quarter-century, there has been little or no improvement in quality. They frequently conclude that additional funding is simply wasteful in view of the fact that student test scores have not shown dramatic improvements.

The relationship between spending levels and student achievement has been debated for over thirty years, beginning with research by James Coleman in 1966. The Coleman Report concluded that resources had little or no effect on student achievement once the background characteristics of students were taken into consideration.

As noted by Wenglinsky (1997), “The debate has continued over the past 30 years, with some studies finding a relationship and others not finding one. This stalemate is due both to a lack of research on the scale of the original Coleman Report and to some methodological problems in the studies”.

Research by Wenglinsky in the spring of 1997 found that expenditures which are targeted towards services can have a positive influence on student achievement. In the case of fourth grade students, increased spending on smaller class sizes had a direct, positive influence on student achievement.

At the eighth grade level, reduced class sizes improved the school’s social environment, and which in turn improve achievement.

Miles and Rothstein (1995) also remind us that it is simplistic to relate changes in aggregate spending levels to changes in student achievement. They point out that most students are in regular education programs, yet most of the new money over the past 25 years has gone to programs which are not allocated to regular education. Specifically, the authors report that only 28% of the new dollars spent on education during the past 25 years (about 1% each year) has gone to regular classrooms. About 60% has gone to special needs students.

Rothstein also states that the nation’s spending on schools climbed 61% during the past 25 years; it has not doubled, as many have claimed (Lindsay, November 22, 1995).

A 1996 study of spending during the 1993-94 school year by the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that approximately one-half (48.8%) of district spending went for regular instruction. The other costs were as follows: special education (9.8%), administration (8.8%), building operation/ maintenance (9.5%), transportation (4.3%), extracurricular activities (1.6%), teacher training (4.5%), pupil support (guidance counselors, nurses, etc. (4.2%), and debt payment (4.2%).

Increased spending for special education students has strained the budgets of many school districts. In Wisconsin, the number of special education students increased from 99,414 during the 1993-94 school year to 109,304 in 1996-97. In Milwaukee public schools approximately 13% of all students now are identified as having special needs.

There are several reasons for the rising numbers of special needs children, including increases in the number of children living in poverty, the long-term consequences of poor prenatal care, and better identification of children who have learning disabilities.

Teacher Salaries

Teacher salaries have not grown in purchasing power over the past quarter century. In 1970-71, public school teachers averaged $9,729. By 1996-97 the average salary had increased to $38,182. Although this increase appears to be substantial, the 1996-97 average salary is actually 98% of the 1970-71 salary, after inflation is taken into account. (From 1970 to 1996, the Consumer Price Index increased 398%).

Salaries paid to teachers have always been low when compared with other professions. The fact that salaries have been essentially stagnant over the past 25 years is especially troublesome. It means that highly qualified students, especially female students, who once had few alternative career choices other than teaching and nursing, are not as likely to go into teaching.

The Revenue Caps

In 1993, Wisconsin Act 16 became law. The purpose of Act 16 was to place limits on school budgets so that Wisconsin’s home and business owners would experience “property tax relief.” The legislation imposed limits on the total amount of money that public school districts would be allowed to raise through a combination of state aids and the local property tax. The annual increase in a district’s revenue per pupil was to be limited to a specific dollar amount ($190 in 1993-94) or the rate of inflation times the per pupil cost. Beginning with the 1994-95 school year, the per pupil dollar amount was to be adjusted for inflation.

The revenue controls were made permanent in 1995, and the per pupil increases were set at a fixed dollar amount ($200 per student in 1995-96 and $206 in 1996-97 and $211 in 1998-99).

The Qualified Economic Offer

Wisconsin Act 16 (1993) also changed the state’s mediation-arbitration law for teachers. The law stipulates that if the combined salary and fringe benefit offer of the employer is at least 3.8%, this constitutes a Qualified Economic Offer, which is not subject to mediation-arbitration. (Note: If the increased costs of fringe benefits exceed 1.7%, the employer is allowed to reduce the salary component of the QEO in order to fund the higher fringe costs. However, if the fringe increase is less than 1.7%, there is no requirement that the additional money be applied to salaries (Soldner, Mason, and Olin, 1997).

For administrators who are not covered by the collective bargaining agreement, the total amounts available for increases in salaries and fringe benefits can be one of the following: (1) 3.8% of the total prior year’s costs of salaries and fringe benefits for such employees, or (2) the average total percent increase in total salary and fringe benefit increases per employee provided by the school district for the most recent 12-month period ending on June 30.

Since 1994, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators and the Wisconsin Education Association Council have surveyed public school superintendents to determine the effects of the state revenue caps on district programs and services. It has been learned that significant numbers of school districts have implemented cost-cutting actions in order to comply with the revenue caps. For example, more than two-thirds of districts report delaying/reducing purchase of computers or other technology in one or more school years since 1993-94.

One-third or more of the districts report taking the following actions to meet the revenue limits:

• delaying building maintenance or improvement projects (61.2%)
• spending less for maintenance of buildings and grounds (55.7%)
• spending less for improvements of building and grounds (60.6%),
• offering fewer staff development opportunities for teachers (35.5%)
• delaying/reducing hiring of new staff (48.9%);
• increased class sizes (35.2%)
• delaying/reducing purchase of textbooks or curricular materials (41.7%)
• limiting purchase of consumable supplies, such as paper (35.5%)
• increased administrator workload (52.4%)
• increased student fees (40.1%)
• using the fund balance to support the budget (39.5%)

It is important to recognize that the cost-cutting actions reported above are taking place during a period in which the population of students in Wisconsin’s public schools as a whole continues to grow. Based on data reported by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, student enrollment during the period from 1993-94 to 1995-96 increased 4.5% (from 811,042 to 847,495). If enrollment had dropped statewide over the past few years, the percent of districts reporting cuts in each of the areas listed above would be significantly higher.

Finally, it should be noted that the effect of the revenue caps has not been the same for all districts. In general, districts which are experiencing stable or declining enrollments are most negatively impacted. Conversely, districts with increasing enrollments have fared better under the caps. For more detailed information on the impact of the revenue caps on school districts see paper by Allen (1997).

4. Meeting the Needs of All Students

Everyone knows that some students are more difficult and costly to educate. Research by Parrish, Chambers, and Matsumoto (1994) provides relative cost ratios for three categories of K-12 students: (1) special education, (2) compensatory (at-risk) education, and (3) Limited English Proficient.

The costs of educating these students are presented as marginal cost ratios, which show the additional cost of educating students over and above the average per pupil expenditure for regular education students. Based on their analysis, and using the “medium” estimate ratios, they determined that the cost to educate a student with special needs is, on average, 2.3 times the cost for a regular education student. For compensatory education (at-risk) students, the cost ratio is 1.4. Finally, the cost ratio for a student who is Limited English Proficient is 1.35.

As of December 1, 1996, there were 109,304 students enrolled in special education programs. This represents 12.4% of students in the public schools. By comparison, of the 150,140 students enrolled in the state’s private schools, 1,119 were enrolled in special education programs (.75%).

5. Access to/Use of Computer Technology

There is the perception that the typical school district in Wisconsin is not meeting the promises of computer technology. Furthermore, Wisconsin’s citizens believe that modern computers and technology are so important that 84% say that they would be willing to pay increased taxes to purchase the technology (WEAC Poll, July, 1996).

In order to gather some information about the status of computer technology in Wisconsin’s public schools, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators and the Wisconsin Education Association Council surveyed school district superintendents in the early summer of 1996. Surveys were completed and returned by approximately two-thirds of superintendents.

Selected findings follow:

• At the end of the 1995-96 school year, there was approximately one computer for every eight students in Wisconsin’s public schools.
• In general, “wealthier” school districts have a lower ratio of students to computers. For example, the districts which participated in this study and which spent less than $7,000 per student during the 1995-96 school year average one computer for every nine students. In contrast, districts which spent $7,000 or more have one computer for every seven students.
• Of the computers which are used by students, approximately one-fourth are multi-media equipped, meaning they have a sound board, speakers, and CD-Rom drive.
• Superintendents report that approximately 60 percent of elementary, middle/ junior high, and secondary level teachers “use computers as part of their classroom instruction.” This is a difficult statistic to interpret, for it does not allow us to differentiate between teachers whose students use computers occasionally as word processors, versus teachers whose students use computers in sophisticated ways across all subject areas.
• 81 percent of superintendents who completed a survey report that there is at least one computer in their district which is connected to the Internet. However, statewide only four to five percent of student computers connect with the Internet.
• Although eight in ten districts have “access” to the Internet, in about one-third of the districts access requires payment of a long distance charge.

Although this study provides us with some rough estimates regarding the number, ages, and uses of computers, it does not address other important issues related to computers and computer technology. These include issues of staff development for teachers and on-going district support for computers and related technology.

TEACH Wisconsin

In October, 1997, TEACH was signed into law. Once the program becomes operational in early 1998, it will provide support for educational technology and telecommunications within four separate programs:

1. Educational Telecommunications Access, 2. Educational Technology Block Grants, 3. Wiring Loans, and 4. Grants for Technical Assistance. Detailed information about TEACH Wisconsin can be found at the following internet address: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/dtm/bipm/gov/contact.htm.