Arlington School Board Spends More With Revenue Sharing Agreement
At least that’s the conclusion one can reach after a chart of total spending per student in the Friday, April 7 Washington Post got me computing the year-to-year changes in spending by the School Board. The Post’s chart shows the nationwide average spending per student in the 1999-2000 school was $6,836, but grew to $8,287 by 2003-2004, a change of 21.22%, or 5.31% a year.
By comparison, according to the cost-per-pupil numbers on page 51 of the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2007 budget, the cost per pupil for the Arlington Public Schools for 1999-2000 was $10,271 and for 2003-2004 was $13,309, an increase of 29.58%, or 7.39% annually.
So why blame the Revenue Sharing Agreement, which the Arlington County Board and Arlington School Board inked in FY 2002 that automatically gives the School Board about 48% of all county tax revenues? The increases in per pupil spending were 4.98% from FY 1999 to FY 2000, 6.50% from FY 2000 to FY 2001, and 3.71% from FY 2001 to FY 2002. Since the two Boards signed what one ACTA member calls the Share the Loot Agreement, the annual increases have been higher – ranging from 7.38% to 9.10%. To use that ol' time expression, the proof is in the pudding. In plainer English, give government the money, and they will spend it.
Maybe the two Boards should talk about this when they hold a joint worksession on Tuesday, April 18, rather than the usual yackety, yack, yack. For an interesting “debate” between that year’s School Board candidates – Beth Wolffe and incumbent Mary Hynes -- on their policy differences in the Revenue Sharing Agreement, see ACTA’s August 2002 newsletter, The ACTA Watchdog (Adobe required). Also, see last year’s School Board candidates responses to question 3 in the October 2005 issue of The ACTA Watcdog.