CommenTerry: Volume Thirty-four | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dr. Terry Stoops, who is the Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation.

Guilford taxpayers asked to pony up for schools


    In 1781, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis of the British Army defeated Major General Nathanael Greene in a brief but critical Revolutionary War skirmish later known as the Battle of the Guilford Court House.

    As far as I can tell, it was the last time the pro-tax side won a major battle in Guilford County.

    Next month, voters in Guilford County will determine whether to approve a quarter-cent increase in the county sales tax. Proponents say that the additional revenue will be used for much-needed increases to the Guilford County Schools budget. Opponents point out that a tax increase would impede economic growth and have a disproportionate effect on low-income residents.

    Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about education spending these days. Overall, Guilford County Schools spent $662.3 million or $9,213 per student to operate their public school system in 2013. Both were higher than the 2012 totals, which were $649.7 million and $9,076 per student, respectively. The public will receive updated spending and enrollment figures in coming months, which allow us to compare spending through 2014. At this point, those data are not available from the state.

    So why are so many convinced that public school funding has taken a nosedive? I suspect that advertisements supporting the reelection of Senator Kay Hagan likely convinced the typical resident of Guilford County that their schools have been the victims of massive cuts at the hands of House Speaker Thom Tillis and eeeevil Republicans in Raleigh. That is not true, either locally or statewide. According to N.C. Department of Public Instruction statistics, state spending for K-12 schools in Guilford County increased by nearly $30 million between 2010 and 2013. That led to a $300 per student increase during this period. Since 2010, state funding growth for elementary and secondary education hovers around the $1 billion mark.

    Of course, state funds represent only around two-thirds of the money provided to public schools. Indeed, some of the state increases were offset by decreases in federal funding, which in recent years have fluctuated between 10 and 15 percent of the total funding for public schools. Guilford County Schools spent fewer federal dollars in 2013 than they did in any of the previous three years. Much of this was due to the expiration of large federal grants distributed to districts statewide.

    But residents of Guilford County are most interested in what they can control directly -- local funding for schools. In 2013, the district spent $209.4 million in local funds for operating expenses, an 11 percent increase from the year prior. That increase added $286 in local per pupil spending during the same period.

    How does this compare to districts statewide? In 2013, Guilford County Schools had the 44th highest per-pupil expenditure in the state, climbing 14 spots from 2011. In terms of local funding, Guilford County taxpayers provided the 11th highest per-student expenditure in the state. In other words, in 2013 only ten other counties allocated more per pupil funding to their public schools than Guilford County.

    One may argue that the increases were not sufficient, but it takes a lot of imagination to conclude that there were no increases.

    The question of sufficient funding is a valid one. But I would ask, sufficient funding for what? If the sole purpose of increasing education spending were increasing education spending, then I would argue that we have been diverted from our goal of ensuring that all children receive a superior education. Regrettably, outcomes seldom become the focus of campaigns to drain additional resources from taxpayers, particularly those who can least afford it.

    Facts and Stats

   

    Source: N.C. Department of Public Instruction, Financial and Business Services, Statistical Profile Online

    Acronym of the Week

    GCS -- Guilford County Schools

    Quote of the Week

    "They say they have given us more money, but they don't take into consideration the growth in student body." -- Guilford County School Board member Darlene Garrett, quoted in the News & Record

    Click here for the Education Update archive.
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