Growls

In a press release last September, the Arlington Public Schools announced the results of the 2007 customer satisfaction survey. They seemed most proud of the answer to the question of “whether or not (taxpayers) tax dollars are being well spent:”

“60 percent of the community think that their tax dollars are well spent compared to 48 percent in 2004. On the same question, 83 percent of APS parents surveyed in 2002, 2004 and 2007 responded that their tax dollars are well spent by the school system.”

Unfortunately, no effort was made to probe whether taxpayers were satisfied with the actual dollars being spent, but only to the much more general “their tax dollars,” which by the way was $17,958, according to the FY2007 report of the Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE).

But now comes research that strongly suggests that 60% number of satisfied Arlington County taxpayers would be significantly lower if taxpayers knew just how much the Arlington Public Schools spend per student. According to a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and Brown University (here is the press release, and here is the the complete article (requires Adobe), including the methodology):

“Do Americans have an accurate grasp of how much is currently being spent on public education? Not according to a recent analysis of national survey results by University of Chicago’s William Howell and Brown University’s Martin R. West published in the summer issue of Education Next. The average respondent surveyed in 2007 thought per pupil spending in their district was just $4,231 dollars, even though the actual average spending per pupil among districts was $10,377 in 2005 (the most recent year for which data are available). [emphasis added]

“Howell and West also found Americans think that teachers earn far less than is actually the case. On average, the public underestimated average teacher salaries in their own state by $14,370. The average estimate among survey respondents was $33,054, while average teacher salary nationally in 2005 was actually $47,602.

“Almost 96 percent of the public underestimate either per-pupil spending in their districts or teacher salaries in their states.”

After attending a joint worksession between the County and School Boards last month, we growled that County Board members seemed more concerned about how “green” the schools were rather than about their cost.

The conclusion of the study’s authors is rather thought-provoking:

“In sum, Americans think that far less is being spent on the nation’s public schools than is actually the case. The vast majority of the public thinks we spend amounts that can only be described as minuscule, and almost 96 percent of the public underestimate either per-pupil spending in their districts or teacher salaries in their states.

“Important questions about the public’s understanding of school spending remain. Why are their estimates so low? Is this phenomenon unique to education, or would we find the same thing if people were asked about the salaries of other public servants, say, postal workers or police officers? And crucially, does the public’s understanding of school finance shape their policy preferences, or do the public’s policy preferences shape their understanding of school finance?

“At this point, though, one matter seems certain: whatever motivates people’s concerns about school finance, it is not sound information about what is actually being spent.” [emphasis added]