Welcome!
Central VT Chamber
Annual Meeting 2007
Controlling the Cost
of Education
Crisis on the
Horizon?
Education productivity, Taxes and
Costs
Times-Argus
 “William Mathis may hold the most
radical position in the group.”
 “Vermont schools are the envy of the
nation, both in student teacher ratios and
in student test scores.”
 “Vermont schools are terrific and
relatively inexpensive – a bargain.”
Things On Which We May
Agree
 High spending compared to other states
 High achievement compared to other
states
 Low spending compared to other nations
 High achieving compared to other
nations.
Quick Themes
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Educational Quality
Economic Development and Education
Vermont Tax Burdens
School Cost Increases
What do we value?
Privatization and Consolidation
I. Vermont Educational
Quality
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“Smartest State”
Child Well-being
NAEP Scores (combined)
Graduate productivity
Dropouts
Teen death rates
Violent crime
Sources: Morgan Quinto, Kids Count, VSAC
First
Second
Third
Fifth
Third lowest
Sixth lowest
Third lowest
II. Economic Development
and Education
 Businesses have registered concerns about
education and economic development since
1900
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Taylor Report (1910)
Sputnik (1957)
Nation at Risk (1983)
If the economy was collapsing due to education,
why are we the world’s premier economic power?
Most Competitive
Countries:
Top Ten and Tax Burdens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Switzerland
Finland
Sweden
Denmark
Singapore
United States
Japan
Germany
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Second Vermont Rep
30.3%
45.9%
50.2%
48.9%
-26.4%
-36.0%
39.2%
35.8%
31.3%
SOURCES: World Economic Forum, OECD, Tax Foundation
Why did the U.S. slip to
number six?
 Not because of education.
 According to the World Economic Forum,
the U. S. ranking fell because of:
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U. S. trade deficits
U. S. Budget Deficits
Low savings rate
Regressive tax cuts
Increased spending on defense
Increased spending on homeland security
Rankings of “Positive
Business Climate” and
Economic Development
 The eight major state ratings of “positive
business climate” are all based on low
business taxes and less regulation
(minimum wage, few environmental controls)
 Scientifically, these factors do not predict
economic growth
 34 of 50 states are on somebody’s top
ten
 42 states are in somebody’s bottom half
SOURCE: Economic Policy Institute, Levin, Harvard Civil Rights Project
Primary Factors in
Business Location
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Labor costs
Cultural Amenities
Climate
Energy Costs
Transportation
Education
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SOURCE: Economic Policy Institute, World Economic Forum
Why are Young People Leaving?
The Top 20 Vermont Jobs
1. Cashiers
2. Salespersons
3. Nurses (260 openings)*
4. Teacher Assistants
5. Child Care
6. Food Prep/servers
7. Home Health
8. Counter attendants
9. Carpenters
10.Cooks
SOURCE: VT. Dept of Labor
11. Food Prep workers
12. Stock clerks
13. Janitors/cleaners
14. Bookkeepers/ clerks
15. Human Serv’s Asst’s
16. Elem Teachers (141)*
17.Landscape/Gardeners
18. Laborers
19. Maids
20. Office clerks
Twenty-first Century
International Work Force?
 Only two of the top 20 jobs require a
college education
 Of the top 50 VT job openings, the only
wealth producing jobs are:
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Team Assemblers (102 needed)
Farm-workers (89 needed)
Construction/Extraction supervisors (61)
General/Operations Managers (58)
Vermont has 8000 H.S. graduates per year
III. Vermont Tax Burdens
 A high state tax only in relation to a low tax
nation
 OECD Countries (30 of them)
26th
 VT State and Local rank
10th
 VT Federal, state & local rank
15th
 VT Tax burden unchanged since 1986
 Between 10.0% and 10.6%
 Vermont GSP growth (1997-06)
7th
SOURCES: U. S. Commerce department; the Tax Foundation, OECD
Vermont School Tax
Burdens
 Despite the hue and cry, tax burdens
have decreased. (percent of AGI, with
prebates but not rebates).
 FY-96
5.42%
 FY06
4.94%
 Income grew faster than taxes (Cillo)
IV. Rising Education Costs
 School spending is 90% personnel
 “Students are down, Employees are up”
says the Governor
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Total Employee Change 2003-06
Data Processing
AV-Technology
Business Office Cler.
Psych., SLPs
Assessment Directors
Teachers & aides
1.8%
+ 126.4%
+ 91.24%
+ 33.0%
+ 10.7%
?
+ 0.45%
“We Shall meet the enemy,
and not only may he be ours,
he may be us.”
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NCLB 588 mandates, decreasing funds
National average + 27.7%
410 memos
166 “Advisorys”
92 Required actions
Medicaid
Bullying, hazing, harassment, bus idling,
etc.
Caps – A Monkey-Wrench
on the Safety Valve
 Caps do not address either the social or
economic problems of the state
 Caps do not address the cost drivers
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Salaries @ 3%
Special Education
Benefits (health)
Technology, mandates,
Buses and boilers
1.8 budget points
1.2
1.5
1.0
1.0
V. Sustainability and
Affordability
 We afford and sustain those things that we
value.
 What do we want to Sustain and Afford?
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Our “smartest state” label?
Our high achievement?
Our student/ teacher ratio?
Our democratic heritage?
Our child health and safety records?
VI. Privatization Panaceas
 In an increasingly ethnically, culturally
and economically diverse world, public
education offers the best hope (perhaps
the only hope) of unifying a culturally and
economically fragmented society.
 The research evidence is unequivocal.
Free-market approaches to education
lead to social fragmentation without
academic improvement.
VII. Consolidation
Considerations
 There are good reasons to consider
consolidation. However,
 Do not expect it to save considerable
money.
 Small schools and districts moderate the
effects of poverty (Matthew Studies)
 Consolidation decreases meaningful citizen
involvement
VIII. The future of public
education
 “What the best and wisest parent wants
for his own child, that must the
community want for all its children. Any
other ideal is narrow and unlovely; acted
upon, it destroys our democracy”
- John Dewey
 The future depends upon our vision of
society and how we act upon it
William J. Mathis
 Contact at wmathis@sover.net
 (802) 247-5757
 Background papers can be found at
RNESU.org
 January 2007
Ten Moral Concerns of NCLB
National Council of Churches
“Indeed, the coexistence of neglect of
schools and neglect of other aspects of
the life of people who are poor makes it
clear that no effort to improve education
in the United States can ignore the
realities of racial and class discrimination
in our society as a whole.”