School district budgets are a maze of numbers and jargon that most citizens cannot easily understand. Even lawmakers and some school officials have difficulty concluding if a district is spending money properly, has the resources it needs to be successful, or is making a difference in the educational outcomes of children.

 

For example, Idaho’s largest school district, the has a budget that is hundreds of pages long and includes six different funds and 36 different programs. The budget is readily available for citizen review, but transparency doesn't mean much if it is not understandable.

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This is why Mountain States Policy Center recommends lawmakers adopt a Public School Transparency Act. This simple step would help taxpayers and parents determine whether their local district has enough funds and whether it is properly spending the cash in the classroom.

 

As part of this idea, all public school districts would be required, both on the first page of their budget and also on the front page of the district’s main website, to report six simple things:

 

1. Amount of total dollars (all funds – local, state and federal) spent by the district that year

2. Amount of total dollars spent per student, per year

3. Amount & percentage of total dollars allocated to average classroom

4. Average administrator salary & benefits

5. Average teacher salary & benefits

6. Ratio of administrators to teachers to students

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Some schools may go further, reporting student outcomes, teacher retention rates and more.

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Very little extra work would be needed to provide this data and make it accessable on paper and online. Most districts already have it somewhere in their budget documents. They know where to look, whereas parents and taxpayers can get lost. In the interest of transparency, school districts should be eager and willing to share this information with the public in a clear, concise manner.

 

Parents and taxpayers may see this data and conclude their school districts need more resources. Others may see it and believe that not enough is being done to spend money in the classroom. Regardless, the community will have a broader sense of the results being achieved, and what – if any – changes need to be made.

 

As we wait for legislative action, Mountain States Policy Center presents this first edition of the Public School Transparency Index for school districts in Idaho. The data contained in this report comes directly from state and district resources, reports and budgets. The data includes:

 

• Graduation rates

• Teacher retention rates

• Chronic absenteeism rates

• Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) data

• Top and bottom performing schools in each district

• Total financial resources in district

• Financial resources available per student

• Average teacher salaries

• Superintendent salaries

• Percentage of district employees who are teachers

• Teacher to student ratios

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Full reports from Montana, Wyoming and Washington will come in subsequent years.

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KEY FINDINGS

 

1. When including all funds, only seven Idaho school districts have resources of less than $10,000 per student, per year

2. Teachers make up at least 50% of the total district staffing in just one-third of Idaho school districts

3.  At least 17 Idaho superintendents receive a yearly salary higher than the Governor of the state ($151,400)

4. The average teacher salary exceeds $60,000 per year in just 15 districts statewide

5. There is no correlation between higher district spending and student outcomes in the district

 

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