Lt. gov. candidate wants more spent in classroom

The News Journal, July 3, 2008

Lieutenant governor candidate Matt Denn discussed his plans Wednesday to overhaul education spending policies as a plank of his platform on children’s issues.

Denn, a Democrat, wants the state to create a funding floor for education spending as an element of a four-part reform in public education spending. Policies also would be created to increase audits of district contracts, create financial oversight committees made up of citizens, and work to implement recommendations from the LEAD Committee, including implementing interim steps toward school consolidation.

“Experience has shown us that the people running our schools do not always make wise decisions about spending for our kids,” Denn said.

Under his proposal, school districts would be required to spend a certain percentage of appropriated state money on “people who provide direct services to kids and the materials those people need to do their job.”

Denn said the exact percentages and what expenses fall into that category would be the result of about three months of discussions with teachers, administrators and community members.

After creating the floor, Denn said he would like the state to remove some of the requirements currently attached to education funds given to districts.

In doing so, schools would have to spend a larger percentage of money on the expenses that meet his definition, but they would deal with fewer ties to specific projects.

Republican candidate Sen. Charles Copeland, West Farms, said he supports increasing the percentage of funds used for classroom expenses, but doesn’t think creating a mandate is the way to reduce overhead spending.

“For the last six years I’ve been fighting to get more of the percent of the dollars into the classroom,” Copeland said. “The private schools, the charter schools and the parochial schools get more of their dollar to the classroom.”

Copeland said the state needs to increase public disclosure of school spending, so residents can hold districts accountable or send their children to other schools if they’re dissatisfied with the way money is spent.

Copeland pointed to legislation he wrote, which died, that would have required districts to publish their spending records online.

“The citizens will make the districts lower their costs,” he said.

Lake Forest School District Superintendent Dan Curry said because much of the state’s education funds are tied to specific programs — like summer school or tutoring — they already function like a spending floor.

But Curry cautioned that implementing a percentage minimum could omit costs that are important to students but not classroom related, such as social workers, curriculum planning, teacher training and transportation.

“We can’t teach them unless we get them to school,” Curry said. “You risk painting with too broad a brush.”

Denn said 58 percent of state funds are spent on instructional costs, compared with the national average of 61 percent.

Additionally, he said, Delaware has the fourth highest per student transportation costs.

But he acknowledged that similar plans have not worked in other states because of partisan politics, attempts to create the policy through a referendum and the use of federal definitions for describing classroom-related expenses.

Brandywine School District Superintendent Jim Scanlan said he could not determine if such a policy would work without knowing the exact percentages and what would fit into the definition of classroom-related.

“Just about every dime you’re spending should go to instruction,” Scanlan said.

The problem isn’t that districts don’t want to spend funds on students, Scanlan said, it’s that the strings tied to some funds make it difficult to address specific needs.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to get funds to the proper place,” Scanlan said.

Denn also said recommendations made by the LEAD Committee suggesting steps toward school district consolidation should be given serious consideration. He said the possibility of implementing consolidation is several years down the road and deserves more discussion, but the interim steps could save money quickly.

The Brandywine School District has already created a financial oversight committee like the one Denn wants to implement in every district.

Scanlan said the committee has been beneficial in looking at budgets, expenses and other fiscal issues. Curry said his district would be open to looking at the benefits other districts, including Brandywine, have reaped from creating an oversight committee.