When Jana Miller testified before the House Education Committee about HB 2190, schools; Common Core; replacement, she claimed that Common Core was too big to fail. Miller, the Cave Creek Unified School District’s Associate Superintendent Teaching and Learning, complained that her district had already spent nearly $3 million on Common Core’s requisite technology.
Last week, Tucson Unified School District Governing Board members were told: “Technology is a part of the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards. (Common Core) Students should be interacting with technology as appropriate for engaging with and learning the standards. Scientific and graphing calculators are permitted on the Mathematics assessment portion of the AzMerit test.” They were then asked to approved the “purchase Educational Aids in excess of $250,000.00 for students.”
Of course, the Board approved the purchase of “Educational aids” from CDWG in the amount of $457,574.35.
According to an analysis of the purchase by University of Arizona Economics professor and TUSD Governing Board member, TUSD overpaid by about $250,000.
| TUSD Board approved Purchase | |
| 2,700 TI-84 Plus Calculators at about $106 | $286,200 |
| 500 TI Inspire CX Graphing Calculators at about $133 | $66,500 |
| On Amazon | |
| Casio FX-9750GII (recommended)single units $45.00 | $144,000 |
The TUSD school board was offered no explanation as to why the district’s administration ignored the AZMerit approved calculator that could have saved over $250,000, according to Stegeman.
The $250,000 plus for TUSD alone, to buy calculators for schools that will be giving the paper-based test, is only the tip of the iceberg in unexpected expenses to implement Common Core.
With the sort of spending practices normally reserved for the military industrial complex, districts have consumed millions of dollars in technology and textbooks in the name of Common Core. There is little wonder why schools believe they can get away with crying poverty.
On February 27th, TUSD’s Superintendent H.T. Sanchez told Howard Fischer, of Capitol Media Services, that textbooks are not considered classroom spending. He is wrong. According to the definition of classroom spending as per Arizona’s Auditor General:
As defined by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the classroom dollar percentage is the amount spent for classroom purposes divided by the total amount spent for day-to-day operations, or total operational spending. The calculation excludes monies spent for capital outlay, such as purchasing land, buildings, and equipment, and debt repayment because these expenses benefit more than one period and can vary significantly from year to year. The calculation also excludes costs related to programs outside the scope of preschool through grade-12 education, such as adult education and community services.
Total operational spending includes classroom expenses as shown below:
Classroom dollars
Classroom personnel―Teachers, teachers’ aides, substitute teachers, graders, contracted instructional services, athletic coaches
General instructional supplies―Paper, pencils, crayons, etc.
Instructional aids―Textbooks, workbooks, instructional kits, instructional computer software, films, etc. Internet access for instruction is also included in classroom spending.
Activities―Field trips, athletics, and co-curricular activities such as choir and band
Tuition―Paid to out-of-state and private institutions
Last week, the Arizona Auditor General released its Arizona School District Spending Report for Fiscal Year 2014. According to the report, “Between fiscal years 2001 and 2014, Arizona’s total operational spending per pupil increased 41 percent,” but Arizona districts spent the lowest percentage in classrooms since Fiscal Year 2001.
The Auditor General concluded:
In fiscal year 2014, for the second consecutive year, Arizona districts spent 53.8 percent of available operating dollars on instruction — the lowest percentage since we began monitoring this in fiscal year 2001. The state-wide percentage decreased every year between fiscal years 2004 and 2013 before remaining flat in fiscal year 2014. At the same time, the percentages spent on administration, plant operations, food service, transportation, student support, and instruction support have all increased.
In response, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas praised the schools and their spending. Superintendent Douglas said, “I find it inspiring that our schools have continued to strive for excellence given the restraints placed upon them by limited budgets.”
Because those limited budgets have directed a tremendous amount of money to Common Core implementation, the proponents would have us believe that they have gone too far and spent too much to turn the bus around. Unlike Fischer, who published Sanchez’s misrepresentation as to what does, and does not, qualify as a classroom expense, the public cannot afford to blithely accept lies.
Taxpayers must ask their school boards if the recent technology purchased would also be adequate for any standards adopted by Arizona. If the answer is “yes,” then there is absolutely no reason why the State cannot loosen the corporate hold on public education and rid itself of Common Core.
As teacher Brad McQueen notes in his article, The Common Core machine must be removed now, not later, returning to our previous math and language arts standards is doable.
McQueen writes, “Returning back to our previous math and language arts standards for two years, as we update all of our learning standards, is doable. Remember, the Common Core standards have only been fully in place since last year for math and language arts and the Department of Education is already updating the other six content areas mentioned above.”
“Like Oklahoma, our previous math/language arts standards were judged, according to a 2010 comparison study conducted by the Common Core funded Fordham Institute, to be on par with the Common Core standards in math, receiving an A-, and very close in language arts, receiving a B+,” notes McQueen.
“However, unlike the Common Core standards, our previous AZ Academic Standards, have more than a decade of data to show for themselves,” according to McQueen.
Claims that Common Core will improve performance are baseless. There is no data upon which to base the claims. If the corporations succeed in keeping Common Core in our schools, perhaps school administrators can begin shopping in the same careful manner in which public school parents spend. They know every dime counts and there are not enough dimes to go around. Of course it would make a huge difference if while at the same time they are removing corporate control of standards, they were removing corporate loopholes and begin funding schools adequately.
Related articles:
PARCC field tests had major data security flaws and of course they knew all about it
The Common Core machine must be removed now, not later
Cave Creek administrator Miller blames colleague for her behavior
Emails reveal ADE retaliation of Common Core critic, Goldwater files lawsuit
The truth behind Arizona’s sudden withdrawal from PARCC
Arizona districts spent lowest percentage of funds in classrooms since 2001