Isle school
funding gets ‘C’A report card says Hawaii
ranks 40th in the nation
for spending on students
Hawaii spends less on its public school students than the national average, ranking 40th among U.S. states in per-pupil expenditures, according to a report card issued today by Education Week.
The national publication's "Quality Counts 2004" issue gave Hawaii a "C" for "adequacy of resources" devoted to education, but an "A" for equity in distributing the money among schools.
Hawaii spent $6,614 per pupil, compared with a national average of $7,376, in the 2000-2001 school year, the most recent comparative figures available. The report used data from the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education, that were adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living.
Education Week's ranking differs dramatically from the conclusion of consultants to Gov. Linda Lingle, who produced a report in November placing Hawaii 14th among the states in per-pupil expenditures in the 2001-2002 school year.
Their report, "Financial Analysis of Hawaii Public Schools," initially said its ranking was based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics, but the authors later retracted that statement. Co-author Bruce Cooper acknowledged the ranking was based on the authors' own formula, and relied on U.S. Census figures for revenues, not expenditures, of some school districts. It, too, was adjusted for the cost of living.
Education Week issues report cards annually, comparing the state's performance on various school factors. It listed Hawaii's average teacher salary, adjusted for the cost of living, at the lowest in the nation, or $31,761 in 2002, well below the $44,367 national average. Hawaii's beginning teacher salary was also at the bottom of the heap when adjusted for the cost of living, at $22,466 for Hawaii compared with $30,719 for the nation as a whole.
On the 2004 report card, Hawaii's grades showed a decline in efforts to improve teacher quality but a better score in setting standards for student performance and holding schools accountable.
Hawaii's grade for "improving teacher quality" dropped to a D+ from a C- last year. While Hawaii teachers must pass a full array of tests to earn their licenses, the state does not require them to complete specific course work in their subjects. Nor does it assess their performance in the classroom before issuing continuing licenses, the report said.
Hawaii's grade for "standards and accountability" rose to a C+ from a D+ last year. The report said the state's "strong accountability system includes well-developed standards" in several subjects and tests aligned with those standards.
"It's still not where we want it to be, but there's real improvement there," said Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the Department of Education. "That just reflects the maturation of our standards-based system, which is still being implemented."
The Aloha State's grade for school "climate," a broad measure of conditions from safety to class size, improved slightly to a C from a C-. Hawaii had received an F in that category from 1998 through 2001.
Hawaii's "climate" score is still held down by such factors as its large schools and concerns among middle school administrators about a lack of parental involvement, student tardiness and classroom misbehavior.
Hawaii's A grade for equity in school funding was the nation's highest, while Illinois earned the lowest, an F. State grades for funding adequacy ranged from an A in states such as New York and New Jersey to a D in Arizona and Utah.
This issue of Education Week focused on special education, and lauded Hawaii's efforts to recruit and retain special education teachers.
It also reported the results of a nationwide poll it commissioned of 800 special and general education teachers that showed broad disagreement with a federal mandate holding special education students to the same standards and tests as their peers, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Eighty-four percent of teachers polled said that most special education students should not be expected to meet the same set of academic content standards as other children their age, and 78 percent said they should be given alternate assessments, rather than the same tests.
The full "Quality Counts" report is available at www.edweek.org/.
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Hawaii's Education Report Card
2004 2003 Resource Adequacy C B- Resource Equity A A Standards and Accountability C+ D+ Efforts to Improve Teacher Quality D+ C- School Climate C C-
Source: "Quality Counts 2004" and "Quality Counts 2003" by Education Week