Letters From: FirstClassEducation.com

In Response To Our Recent "School District Spending" Piece: Patrick M. Byrne President and Chairman Overstock.com, Inc.

America’s Classrooms, Teachers & Students Come First with the 65% Solution By Dr. Patrick Byrne Ben Franklin famously said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” For K-12 education funding, a few pennies saved could mean literally billions of dollars earned for America’s classrooms. That’s the driving force behind First Class Education, a thriving national movement to enact the 65% Solution. It’s a simple idea. If we can get the business side of education to adopt better business practices, we would have more money for the education side of education. Business schools throughout America teach management techniques called “best practices” and “benchmarking” – determine what the most efficient companies in a given field are doing and apply similar goals for your firm. In the business of K-12 public school education, First Class Education proposes the benchmark of placing 65% of operational budgets in the classroom. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), just four years ago seven states across America -- from Utah to Maine, Tennessee to New York -- placed at least 65% of their operational budgets in the classroom. Now only two states do. Four years ago fourteen states placed less than 60% of their budgets in the classroom. Now twenty states aren’t even getting 60% to their classrooms. The NCES has reported dramatic recent increases in K-12 education funding – four times the rate of inflation – while for four straight years the percentage of dollars reaching America’s classrooms has declined. Just 61.3% is now reaching our classrooms as a national average. We can and must do better. If we were to increase that average to 65%, America’s classrooms would have an additional $14 billion a year without a tax increase. Just 3.7 cents more per dollar to our classrooms would be enough to buy a new computer for every student in America or hire 300,000 additional teachers with a starting salary of $40,000, or a near doubling of classroom supplies.. Small change can equal a big change. To see what the 65% Solution would mean for your state visit: www.firstclasseducation.org. Plenty of possibilities exist to save money if school districts had an incentive to be innovative. In Nevada, the Clark County school district recently cut their electric bills with the incentive of giving 10% of the savings back to school principals for their school’s use. The savings: more than $9 million by just turning the computers and lights off at night and stopping the fiddling with the thermostats. In Oregon, the Hillsboro school district will save close to $2 million over the next three years by its recent competitive-bidding of maintenance services. In these examples, “millions saved are millions earned.” And plenty examples of largess exist in many, if not most school districts. Florida’s Miami-Dade school district has over 240 employees making more than $100,000 a year. Not one is a teacher. Arizona’s Deer Valley school district has 101 school buses, but also 167 cars. In Minnesota a district superintendent recently resigned mid-contract and received $440,000 in severance in addition to his lifetime pension and health insurance. Nearly every teacher can easily identify waste outside the classroom while they are spending money out of their own limited pockets for basic classroom supplies. As sound as placing more of our education money in the classroom is for teachers and taxpayers, it’s equally important for students. Rank all 50 states by standardized test scores and you’ll find the top five states place the highest percentage in the classroom – averaging 64.12%. The bottom five states for test scores place the lowest percentage in the classroom – averaging 59.46%. Research by Colorado’s Independence Institute shows the percentage of dollars reaching the classroom had five times greater correlation with increased test scores than simply spending more money. Thankfully, change is coming. First Class Education was founded less than a year ago, but already Louisiana and Kansas have adopted 65% proposals. Texas Governor Rick Perry enacted the 65% Solution by executive order. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue will sign 65% Solution legislation into law this week. Supporters in Colorado this week submitted over 100,000 signatures to place the issue before voters this November. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and Florida Governor Jen Bush are supporting legislative efforts to refer the 65% Solution to their November ballots. Citizen initiative drives are underway in Arizona, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. And Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is pushing a 70% in the classroom requirement for his state. Let’s support our teachers, benefit our students and be responsible to our taxpayers by ensuring that at least 65% of our education tax dollars reach the place that makes the difference – America’s classrooms. Dr. Patrick Byrne is the Founder and President of Overstock.com and the National Advisory Chairman of First Class Education.