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originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Reallyfolks
The article did say they had the money on hand to stay open, but that they preferred to close to figure out the budget rather than risk running into a hole.
As to their financials, counties with poor management aren't uncommon.
originally posted by: liejunkie01
It won't last long for every other district either.
People around here are fed up with crazy property taxes, going mainly to the schools.
www.beacontn.org...
While total spending statewide increased by 64 percent from 2000-‐2012, total administrative costs rose by nearly 89 percent. Inflation during this time period was only 33 percent, and thus does not account for this dramatic increase. Some of this increase is due to a seven percent increase in the number of students. Yet administrative expenditures per pupil have risen from $449.66 to $793.07—an increase of 76 percent—demonstrating that the increase in administrative spending has much less to do with increasing enrollment than other factors. In that same span of time, fifteen school systems more than doubled their per pupil administrative costs (Figure 4). These dramatic increases highlight the prioritization of non-instructional expenses as local education budgets have grown.
Clay County ..Admin costs 2000-2012 163.74% ADA increase(-16.55%) Total Admin cost increase 120.08%
edit on 19-10-2015 by StoutBroux because: (no reason given)
originally posted by: greencmp
Centralized education is a bad idea. It is as simple as that, there is no good way to do a bad thing.
"I used to think the problem was about equity," Clay County Superintendent Jerry Strong said. "But it's about adequacy."
The school board in his northern Middle Tennessee county voted last week to cancel school in the rural district, saying the Clay County Commission has not provided it with a budget large enough to offset education mandates handed down by the state.
Strong said he used to be concerned that Tennessee's Basic Education Program — the state's funding formula for education — allotted more money to large school districts like Hamilton County, placing the 1,200 Clay County students at an unfair disadvantage.
"Now I see that I gain nothing from taking away from Hamilton County financially to help Clay County, because you're in the same mess, just at a different proportion," Strong said. "The funding pie is just too small."
Hamilton County, along with seven other school districts, filed a lawsuit in March claiming that BEP does not fund the true cost of education. It contends the funding formula deprives students of a free and equal education, which the Tennessee General Assembly is obligated under the Constitution to provide.
...
Strong said that in the past five years Clay County has been given more than $700,000 in recurring mandates from the state that are unfunded. In a budget of less than $10 million, that's significant, especially since the majority of the district's budget goes to payroll and state and federal mandated spending, according to Strong.
originally posted by: Aazadan
originally posted by: greencmp
Centralized education is a bad idea. It is as simple as that, there is no good way to do a bad thing.
But decentralized education doesn't make anyone adhere to education standards. In fact it does the opposite, a subpar education is cheapest so it's in a states interest to offer it, and to then offer incentives to make the citizens of other more educated states move there to fill jobs.
originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: greencmp
Without those standards, school districts and states can have even lower test scores than they currently do, and they have no accountability to improve it.
I don't see how saying children need to know how to do algebra leads to them not knowing how to do so.
originally posted by: ketsuko
originally posted by: Hyperia
a reply to: ketsuko
And i remember you had issues with how things works in Sweden, embrace Socialism
Ah, irony. This is the public school system. In the United States, it is one of the few nearly 100% socialized systems we have. See how it fails?
originally posted by: greencmp
The inescapable result is that, without exception and by definition, the achievable standards must always be average or below average assuming there is no corruption at all and everyone is doing just the right things.