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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Fact-Checking Gov. Rendell and Bill Cosby

This afternoon. Gov. Ed Rendell, school superintendents, and Bill Cosby held a press conference on improvement in Pennsylvania test scores, and calling for funding increases. Unfortunately, they got a number of facts wrong:
  • I hate correcting the venerable Dr. Cosby, nonetheless, his statement that we spend "only $4,000 to educate children" underestimates actual spending by Pennsylvania school districts by 70%. The average per-pupil spending is actually over $13,000. Normally, I might let this factual error go...but polls show many people underestimate what we spend on education, and when they have the facts correct, their support for spending increases wanes. Perhaps Bill Cosby is among those, and had he realized what Pennsylvania is really spending, would not in Harrisburg advocating for more.
  • In response to a question - perhaps predicated on our noting that school districts have 2.4 billion in reserve balances, the superintendent of Otto-Eldred school district made the claim that school districts can only keep a max 12% reserve - this is factually incorrect. The limit only applies for schools when issuing new debt. In fact, at the end of the 2007-08 school year, 237 school districts - more than half - had fund balances greater than 12%, including the Otto-Eldred district, which has $2 million in reserves or 21% of their spending.
I was also disappointed in the lack of mention of the role of parents in education. In fact, the superintendent who spoke , after mentioning Bill Cosby's book Fatherhood, told the students in the attendance that there were "Two role models...teachers...and celebrities like Mr. Cosby." While I have the utmost respect for both teachers and Bill Cosby, failing to mention parents (which I have to say I was fully expecting) seemed odd. But it was consistent with the lack of discussion of parental choice in education which is a huge part of Pennsylvania's test score improvement.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

NB. Actually, there were cuts. Those cuts were made when the budget was blue-lined. And, those cuts were made by Ed Rendell.

Unknown said...

I was there and you are right on the mark! Thanks for the facts! I knew the $4K per student figure was half right and furthermore, he presented the old false choice, this time between funding public school for a kid OR paying for jail time. What about: other school choices that parents make all the time like homeschooling, charter or cyber schools, private/religious schools? better parenting? tax relief for parents? etc etc.

bobguzzardi said...

Thanks, Nate. Factual, by the numbers, analysis beats misleading rhetoric.

Elizabeth A. Male said...

Perhaps the results of the ACT should also be consulted to evaluate educational effectiveness in PA. According to USA Today, only 23% of graduating seniors possess the skills necessary to earn a "C" in English, Math, etc.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-08-19-act-college-prep_N.htm

Anonymous said...

NB. Also, Senate Democrats, in refusing to override veto of Gov Rendell, have voted to cut education spending.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Mr. Cosby was referring to the Commonwealth's contribution of educating a student, which would be around $4000, since local taxpayers carry the remaining burden.