{"id":6672,"date":"2012-04-18T11:01:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T17:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=6672"},"modified":"2012-04-23T10:20:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T16:20:49","slug":"economist-mike-ferguson-questions-whether-idaho-is-adequately-funding-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/18\/economist-mike-ferguson-questions-whether-idaho-is-adequately-funding-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Economist Mike Ferguson Questions Whether Idaho Is Adequately Funding Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_4025\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 400px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Mike Ferguson is the Director of the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4025\" title=\"Mike Ferguson\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson.jpg 400w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson-220x165.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson-138x103.jpg 138w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Ferguson is the Director of the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>The Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy released a report last week <a title=\"Study Questions Constitutionality Of Idaho\u2019s Education Funding Plan\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/13\/study-questions-constitutionality-of-idahos-education-funding-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\">questioning the constitutionality<\/a> of Idaho&#8217;s education funding system.\u00a0 Director of the center and former longtime chief state economist <a title=\"Meet Economist Mike Ferguson\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/mike-ferguson\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Ferguson<\/a> authored the report.\u00a0 Two of the largest stakeholders involved, the Idaho Department of Education and the Idaho Education Association have yet to weigh in beyond an initial reaction statement.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We recently sat down with Ferguson to talk about the report, his findings and where he thinks the state should go from here.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>Why did you decide to work on this report?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>My intent going in was to look at the changes that had occurred in education funding since the great recession.\u00a0 In particular, I was aware that there had been a pretty big increase in the use of supplemental override levies.\u00a0 I also was aware that in 2006, property tax funding was swapped for sales tax funding.\u00a0 That\u2019s not a problem in and of itself, but what it did was leave only unequalized levies for doing these supplementals.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/01\/10\/idahos-former-chief-economist-critical-of-govs-budget-proposal\/\">Idaho\u2019s Former Chief Economist Critical of Gov\u2019s Budget Proposal<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/13\/study-questions-constitutionality-of-idahos-education-funding-plan\/\">Study Questions Constitutionality Of Idaho\u2019s Education Funding Plan<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/01\/Mike-Ferguson-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/mike-ferguson\/\">Meet Economist Mike Ferguson<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/04\/MarioVillafuerte_Getty.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/education-funding\/\">Idaho\u2019s Education Funding Glossary<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">The other part that I guess really surprised me was the degree to which the funding effort declined.\u00a0 That\u2019s the change since 2000.\u00a0 Over the 1980s and 90s, education funding fluctuated, but it was pretty stable, at about 4.5 percent of the state\u2019s personal income.\u00a0 The degree to which it dropped, the steadiness it dropped, just surprised me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">And then you look at that in the context of the increased use of supplementals and school districts are saying \u2018we have to do this in order to meet our basic educational needs.\u2019\u00a0 Well, then a light bulb went off and I thought, wait a minute, the constitution says it\u2019s the duty of the legislature to provide a general, uniform and thorough system of common schools, or what we call public schools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>You measured the funding changes in a couple of ways, one was through personal income.\u00a0 Why do you measure it that way?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>Well, I did that because personal income is probably the single best reflection of the fiscal capacity of the state.\u00a0 It\u2019s the aggregate of income of all Idahoans.\u00a0 Since it measures money income, it measures, the kind of money available to do things, including fund an educational system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>As the recession hit, available money goes down \u2013 I would imagine?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>The beauty of using personal income is personal income will fluctuate as the economy does.\u00a0 As the economy grows, personal income will go up, if the economy contracts, personal income will go down.\u00a0 It basically can provide you a year-by-year indication of what that funding capacity is.\u00a0 And it will have ups and downs along with the economy, so it sort of takes out that cyclical volatility as well as the trend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>You also measure education funding as a share of the total state budget.\u00a0 One of the biggest increases in the total share of state funding has been Medicaid and health and human services\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A:\u00a0<\/span>I, by no means, want to diminish the importance of funding health services for people who don\u2019t have any other means of obtaining health care.\u00a0 The <a title=\"An Essential Guide to Idaho\u2019s Medicaid Program\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/medicaid\/\" target=\"_blank\">Medicaid program<\/a> is for people with severe disabilities, low income, children, and pregnant women \u2013 there are limits.\u00a0 It is an expensive program, health care in this country is expensive.\u00a0 That\u2019s driven by national factors. It\u2019s a separate issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><div class=\"module pull-quote left half\">&#8220;Education is kind of a special case, in that education is enshrined in Idaho\u2019s Constitution.&#8221;<\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"abbr answer\" title=\"answer\">The reason I brought it into the report, is given that the share of funding within the entire state budget had fallen, along with this effort relative to the state\u2019s personal income, I had to ask myself why.\u00a0 There\u00a0are really two factors. There is the shift in funding toward health and there was the reductions in the state\u2019s fiscal capacity, i.e. tax cuts that began in 2000.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t want people to think this should be an education vs. Medicaid kind of issue. That\u2019s a separate issue. It should be treated as a separate matter. But, education is kind of a special case, in that education is enshrined in Idaho\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>Can it provide an accurate picture, to look at a share of education as a share of Idaho\u2019s entire budget, because of those changes\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>That\u2019s why I came back to the point that when we look at education funding as a share of our personal income, it\u2019s clear that we\u2019ve reduced our effort.\u00a0 There are really two important points that come out of the report. One is there has been this pretty dramatic decrease in the level of funding education. The other is the way we are funding it, and the trend there, is toward a very inequitable manner, which relies increasingly on unequalized property taxes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>Your report also points out school districts have had to rely more on levies for funding.\u00a0 What is the concern with doing that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>If you look at it on a statewide basis, just looking at the capacity to fund education with property taxes, I tried to keep it simple. So I looked at the funding capacity per student.\u00a0 The poorest district in that sense is Snake River with I think about $153,000 per student. So a levy of one-tenth of a percent would raise $153 per student.\u00a0 The richest district in the state at over $10 million per student is Avery, but they only have 18 students.\u00a0 The next richest district is the McCall-Donnelly district with a little over $4.5 million per student. So their levy of one-tenth of a percent raises $4,600 per student.\u00a0 So, the capacity of a district is vastly different across the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">Generally speaking, if you have districts with similar characteristics, for example in the Snake River plain where there is a lot of agriculture, and typically a fairly large number of students, you may end up with a cluster of property-poor districts.\u00a0 There can be differences in adjoining districts.\u00a0 But, it\u2019s not just the property value and the capacity. It\u2019s also the willingness of the patrons of an individual school district to tax themselves through the property tax to fund education.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">Now, the constitution doesn\u2019t put that duty on the parents, or the voters or the school trustees. It puts it squarely on the shoulders of the Legislature.\u00a0 And it talks about the state shall have a uniform and thorough system of free common schools, or public education.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a lot of moving parts. So the basic situation is pretty clear when you put the data together and you take a look at it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">We are diminishing our effort level in terms of funding public schools.\u00a0 Public schools are responding because they do have via legislation, the authority to do supplemental override levies. They are using that to an increasing degree and that brings out the very vast differences in the capacity and the willingness among school districts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>One lawmaker, Senate Education Chairman John Goedde (R-Coeur d\u2019Alene) told the <em>Spokesman Review<\/em> the current system works.\u00a0 \u201cI think the state has an obligation to fund some equitable level of public school education, and I think it\u2019s the option of the local taxpayers to fund anything over that level if it\u2019s their desire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>Well, far be it from me to say what \u2018uniform\u2019 and \u2018thorough\u2019 mean.\u00a0 But I guess I would question, based on the facts and based on these vast funding disparities, and the fact that a lot of districts going forward with these levies are saying \u2018we don\u2019t have the resources to do the basic things we need in terms of our educational system.\u2019 To me that is prima fascie evidence that maybe the state is not actually providing this baseline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>Is the state meeting its constitutional duty?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I\u2019m simply providing information, putting it out in terms, I hope, is relatively easy to understand.\u00a0 Putting those constitutional provisions, not just in relation to the requirement to fund a uniform and thorough system of education, but also in regard to the property tax system.\u00a0 Up until 2006, the state did use property taxes as a major component of education funding, but there was a really key difference between now and then.\u00a0 Then, it was equalized, meaning that a three-tenths of a percent levy really didn\u2019t stay in the district.\u00a0 The district basically made that levy. It was treated in a way of putting in a pot with the general fund and endowment funds and so forth, and that money was spread out among the school districts.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little more complicated than that, but that\u2019s a fair representation of what was happening then.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><strong><del><\/del><\/strong> I didn\u2019t go out and do a study. I simply collected data that documents what the state has spent for its public education system.\u00a0 And when you break it down and look at the information, it does raise questions.\u00a0 It raises doubts in my mind as to whether the state is fulfilling its duty both from the standpoint of a thorough education system and from a uniform education system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>And then you get into defining adequate and thorough, and potential disagreements with defining those words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>Correct.\u00a0 That\u2019s in the eye of the beholder I suppose.\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislature.idaho.gov\/ope\/publications\/reports\/r0901.html\" target=\"_blank\">state did a study in 2009<\/a>, the Office of Performance Evaluations, they went into great detail.\u00a0 They specifically recommended the state not conduct a formal adequacy study because it would probably bring on lawsuits.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I would agree that\u2019s a good reason not to examine something that\u2019s so important and enshrined in the constitution.\u00a0 I have great admiration for the founders who put those words in there \u2013 I mean, it\u2019s one sentence \u2013 and it\u2019s very forward thinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"question\">Q: <\/span>In response to your study, a written statement from the Idaho Department of Education department said, &#8220;Because of Students Come First, we are now on a clear path to creating an education system that meets our constitutional responsibility of a uniform system of public schools and provides equal access and opportunities to all students \u2013 no matter where they live.\u201d\u00a0 How would you respond?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\" title=\"answer\">A: <\/span>I know there are other quotes out there that just throwing money at education doesn\u2019t guarantee a good educational system.\u00a0 I certainly wouldn\u2019t dispute that.\u00a0 But if you look at the facts, Idaho has one of the lowest levels of funding for education in the nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><div class=\"module pull-quote right half\">&#8220;I don\u2019t buy into the notion that you can somehow obtain a quality education system without devoting resources to it.&#8221;<\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">And, I guess its like squeezing blood out of turnip. It\u2019s not going to happen.\u00a0 You do have to devote resources.\u00a0 Now, you can misappropriate resources, you can screw that up.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t buy into the notion that you can somehow obtain a quality education system without devoting resources to it.\u00a0 If you look at the rankings Idaho has, we tend to be in the middle or bottom half when you look at national education rankings.\u00a0 Is that adequate? Is that sufficient? Is that the standard we set for ourselves?\u00a0 Or do we want to promote the utmost in excellence and devote the resources necessary to achieve that.<\/p>\n<p><em>This interview has been edited and shortened.\u00a0 You can find Mike Ferguson&#8217;s report on education funding from 1980-2013<a title=\"Study Questions Constitutionality Of Idaho\u2019s Education Funding Plan\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/13\/study-questions-constitutionality-of-idahos-education-funding-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\"> here<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy released a report last week questioning the constitutionality of Idaho&#8217;s education funding system.\u00a0 Director of the center and former longtime chief state economist Mike Ferguson authored the report.\u00a0 Two of the largest stakeholders involved, the Idaho Department of Education and the Idaho Education Association have yet to weigh in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":4025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[236,156,85],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6708,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions\/6708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}