Solid education funding begins with a clear vision

THE state Legislature ordered a task force to develop ways to improve education funding. The result offers compelling vision and solutions that must be viewed in the context of the state's huge financial challenges.

Funding for kindergarten through 12th grade is short, by some estimates, by about $3 billion a year. Early-childhood and post-high-school education must be part of the equation, thus the tally of neglect grows.

The strength of the proposal put forth by the Basic Education Funding Taskforce is it correctly places funding second to the need to change how education is funded.

Shifting more money into education won't make a difference without substantial changes in how it, and existing funds, are spent.

The task force, a bipartisan group that includes state Reps. Ross Hunter, Skip Priest, Fred Jarrett and Glenn Anderson and state Sen. Rodney Tom, offers compelling ideas on how to address this.

The first step must be a redefinition of basic education, one that accounts for a changing landscape such as the state Board of Education's proposal to increase to 24 the credits required for a high-school diploma.

More credits mean schools must offer more classes: The task force agrees upon seven. Many districts already offer seven periods a day, using levy dollars to pay for it. But basic education is the state's responsibility and seven is the new basic.

The new concept of basic education would include one period a day of planning and professional development for teachers. Class sizes would be 25 students, dipping far lower in career and technical classes where hands-on learning and safety challenges — presented by equipment in classes such as welding, auto shop and culinary arts — lend themselves to smaller groups.

On so many levels, this is good. It offers a baseline for what school should look like. It moves education funding from a pot of money to an array of services easily understood by those who pay for them. It would also force districts to standardize their accounting systems

Salaries are nearly 85 percent of education spending. They ought to be part of any sea change.

An underlying weakness of education funding is that local districts bargain with teachers unions but do not control the budgets out of which any compensation will come. The end result is districts are often left scrambling to pay for teacher raises they agreed to, but the state declined to fund.

The solution: Give the governor the authority to bargain with the teachers. This would end the practice of the state's responsibility being settled at the local level.

Teachers unions may chafe at this but they should face the reality: Local districts are financially tapped out. Most cannot go to their voters for more levy money. The governor controls the education budget and that is where the real money is.

Another shift ought to be rewarding teachers for skill and knowledge, not for how long they've taught. Merit pay is the way to go. Pay based on peer evaluations might make the process less subjective and ominous for teachers.

The next step: The task force will narrow its proposals this week into a to-do list for the Legislature. Lawmakers ought to take the recommendations seriously. The ones we've mentioned are among the most far-reaching. Our state budget is busted, but the economy will rebound, and nicely. It will be critical for lawmakers to have begun the legwork toward improving schools and how we pay for them.