Above is the student population data for Wicomico County from the Fall of 1976 to the Fall of 1986. As you can tell the student population went down rather dramatically throughout this period. During this period the County's lowest level was reached during 1983 whereby the student population diminished to 11,300 students or down 3,358 students from its record high set in 1970. This represents a decline in student enrollment of 22.9% when comparing FY 1970 to FY 1983.
Above is a the student population data for Wicomico County from the Fall of 1966 to Fall of 1976. If you click onto the data sheet you will see that the student population for Wicomico reached its peak during 1969 and 1970. The student population 30 years ago reached its peak at 14,457 and 14,487 respectively.
As of the writing of this commentary I have accumulated student enrollment data through FY 2007 -2008. The last student population data I presently have on-hand shows the student enrollment for Wicomico to be 13,854 students. . . down 480 students from FY 2004 - 2005 of 14,334 students.
Bottom line - analytically one cannot accurately compare apples to oranges of the County's Educational budget as a percentage to the overall County's Gross Revenues. The statistical argument just doesn't 'cut the mustard'.
14 comments:
Data released by the State for FY 2009 shows the total per student as follows:
15,922 - Worcester
14,010 - Somerset
13,785 - Statewide Average
12,627 - Dorchester
12,394 - Wicomico
And in terms of the portion provided by local funding (County budget) rather than from State or Federal funding:
11,475 - Worcester (72%)
6,597 - Statewide Average (48%)
4,034 - Dorchester (33%)
3,337 - Wicomico (29%)
3,447 - Somerset (24%)
Looks like we have a very efficient system here in Wicomico, but much greater reliance on state and federal funds than most places -- two-thirds of the funds for Wicomico's schools come from State or Federal sources, compared to the statewide average of 47%.
The data indicate that during the past 10 years the non-education part of the County budget has grown at twice the rate of increase as the education part. That's why the share going to the schools has declined from about 50 percent ten years ago to less than 40 percent this year, while the non-education part has gone to more than 60% of the budget.
Some things to consider:
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975 as an amendment of the Education for All Handicapped Act of 1974. The 1974 Act expanded Title VI, that was established by ESEA. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act is also known as Public Law 94-142. This law was created in an effort to provide an appropriate education for the millions of children with disabilities that were not receiving a proper education. PL 94-142 encouraged states to create policies and practices facilitating the needs of the students. The Federal government ensured this by requiring states receiving federal funds to comply with six things. These included:
1. Zero Reject and a Free and Appropriate Public Education meant that EVERY child with special needs is entitled to receive a free and appropriate public school education.
2. Nondiscriminatory Identification and Evaluation was very important at this time because many students with disabilities were not being identified as children with special needs.
3. Individualized Education Program is designed to provide each student with a disability a specific and individual meaningful educational program.
4. The Least Restrictive Environment was the setting in which students with disabilities could benefit the most from.
5. Due Process gives people the right to challenge disability programs in hearings.
6. Parental Participation requires parents or guardians to be actively involved in their child’s education(Slavin, 2006 ) and (Hunt and Kirk, 2005).
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also known as PL 101-476, was created in 1990. This law changed the name of special needs students from “handicapped children” to “children with disabilities.” This law also established the right of adolescent students to receive further education or employment as early as 16. Transitional aid has been a major focus of legislation ever since. In 1983 when this previous law was still known as PL 94-142, an amendment was made that required special education to begin as early as 3 years old. Since the enactment of IDEA, educational services were supposed to be offered to students with disabilities from the time they were toddlers until the time they received a stable job (Slavin, 2006).
NCLB is a piece of legislation designed to ensure that every child in America receives a proper education. Congress passed No Child Left Behind in January 2002. NCLB holds states, school districts, schools and educators more accountable for the success of each student. It requires teachers and paraprofessionals to meet high standards that establish them as “highly qualified.” NCLB also requires states to have annual standardized tests given to at least 95% of all students. These tests are designed individually by each state to asses the adequate yearly progress of students in reading and math. These standardized tests must be given to students once a year in grades 3-8 and once in grades 10-12. NCLB requires annual reports to be sent to parents that includes graduation rates, teacher information, and test assessments broken down by subgroups. NCLB has sanctions for schools that fail to meet adequate yearly progress standards. After two years a failing school must provide paid busing and school choice to students and after 5 years of failing a school will be taken over completely. These sanctions are an attempt to give more choices for schooling to parents and students. One of the biggest benefits of NCLB is the greater flexibility it gives to Title 1 spending. This allows states and local education organizations to have greater control over the use of federal education money. Finally, this act emphasizes the importance of literacy, especially for young children (Essex, 2006). While this act was not specifically aimed at students with special education needs, by leaving no one behind, students with disabilities were able to benefit greatly from its creation.
When it comes to student populations, budgets and spending needs, comparing today to 10, 20, or 30 years ago is comparing apples to oranges. Our schools are REQUIRED to do so much more today.
While all of this information is interesting, I am curious as to the amount of home schooled children now as compared to 5, 10, or 15 years ago. Seems ridiculous the Federal and State governments are pouring money into a school system that many parents have so little faith in.
Interesting that a school district is not required to report to parents that their childs teacher is being investigated by child protective services. The system is in desperate need of repair.
Now lets break down the $14000 per child and see how much of that is salaries. I think the teachers are getting a fair wage, it's all the other pork that's running ramped. I raised 2 children through private school on a $22000 per year salary from 1989 on... it's obvious all counties are comparing their numbers to keep them relative.
Looks like any "excess" in the county budget overt the past 10 years is not at the Board. Where has all this new money to county agencies gone?
Beezer:
The plain fact is that the schools in Wicomico County are underfunded in its budget. Fortunately, there has been increased state funding during the past 10 years, but that is now changing, and the state's "maintenance of effort" rule requires a certain amount of local funding to get a substantial part of the available state funds.
We would be able to provide the "matching" funds in the County budget that are required to get the state funds if there were no (or a different) tax revenue cap.
As it is, the areas of the budget that have grown at about 2 times the rate as the school portion of the County's budget must take the hit in order to fund "maintenance of effort." That's exactly what is happening in Worcester and most other counties this year.
And that's the way it is, whether you like it or not.
Now I see why teachers get paid more in Worcester County.
Your first two commenters work for the Bd of Ed.
education budgets are far more complex than you guys know - they have to consider special education needs, federally mandated programs, testing costs, union requirements, and general education. you aren't going t be able to work this out for yourselves. just drop it, or interview the school board and get real answers, not speculation.
$14,000 a year per student is the state avg...Look we all pay taxes at the state, local and federal levels. So you can cry about the state funding the better portion of the school budget, but it is still taxpayer funded from people living in this state. When is it ever going to be enough? We are all having to tighten our belts and the school system is not exempt-trim the 4% ($2 million). Wicomico county has 4 private schools that do quite well without the federal, state and local funding and their avg tuitions per year aren't at the $12,000 per year per student mark.
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