The Wake Education Partnership and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce have been attempting to broker a deal between the Wake County commission and the school board. The deal would turn over the responsibility of school construction to the county commission, and, in turn, the county commission would agree to a multi-year funding formula for the annual county appropriation to the school system.
Today, representatives from the Partnership and Chamber presented their ideas to a joint meeting of the county commission and school board. I do not want to get into great detail about the presentations, but I will say that the presenters (Schmitt, Denlinger, Oxholm) lacked a clear understanding of school finance. Further, their central premise was that more money would lead to higher student achievement, an argument that lacked any reasonable empirical evidence.
Former school board member Tom Oxholm’s presentation was the most objectionable of the three. He suggested that, in order to increase student achievement, the county would have to agree to sizable tax increases – a cumulative tax increase of 12.5 cents by 2013-2014. While some commissioners and school board members were dazzled by his spreadsheets, Wake County finance staff were not. I believe that the finance staff recognized, like I did, that Oxholm’s assumptions were, well, messed up.
