Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > March > 16
Friday, March 16, 2007
Who gets more (the question is why?)
(Gov. Ted Strickland at Wright State University Thursday with students from the Dayton Early College Academy)
If there is a rationale to how Gov. Ted Strickland wants to dole out the extra state aid he’s proposed for schools, I can’t figure it out.
I put together a ranking (follow the “contine reading” link to see it) of the 82 Dayton area school districts and the percent increase in state aid each would see between now and 2009. This list is based on data provided by Strickland’s office.
So who does Strickland want to help? I wish I knew. There doesn’t seem to be and rhyme or reason to these figures. I can’t tell you why the districts with the biggest proposed gains got them or why 24 area districts would get no state aid increase for the next two years.
Let’s look at the big winners. First of all, Anna has to be a misprint, but I couldn’t get an answer about that Thursday. I can’t believe Anna would actually get a 110 percent gain. After that is Troy and Sidney. Now, neither of these are high wealth districts, but they’re not poor either. They’re pretty middle-of-the-road.
Then comes Monroe and, finally, Bradford — one of the state’s very poorest districts. Other low wealth districts like Mad River, Jefferson Twp. and Dayton get decent gains but they are way down the list.
Others in the top 10? Russia, Miamisburg, Northridge, Ross and Edgewood.
That whole top group is an odd bunch. Small rural towns, mid-sized rural cities, big suburbans, small suburbans. Poor districts, rich districts, districts in the middle.
Now let’s look at the districts receiving zero increase over the next two years. This is where you’d expect to find the very wealthy districts right?
Hmm. If that were so you wouldn’t expect to find New Lebanon, Mechanicsburg, Northwestern, Preble Shawnee, Newton, Milton-Union, Miami East and Arcanum. But there they all are.
There are a few relatively wealthy districts getting no increase — Vandalia-Butler, Springboro and Sugarcreek, for instance. But where is Oakwood? It’s getting an 8.5 percent increase. That’s nothing. Beavercreek is getting an 18 percent gain, Tipp City gets 16 percent, Northmont gets 8.5. Even Mason gets something.
Strickland’s office could only say that most funding is driven by enrollment trend. Districts with increasing enrollment tend to get more than those with declining enrollment.
Really? Then you’d expect Dayton and Springfield, with plummeting enrollment over the last several years, to get nothing, right? But Dayton’s getting 9.5 percent and Springfield’s getting 8 percent.
And if enrollment is the major issue, then certainly fast-growing Springboro and Centerville are in line for huge gains, right? Uh, both get zero under Strickland’s plan.
My head hurts. Here, look at the numbers for yourself and see if you can make more sense of them than I did. These are the 82 Dayton area districts ranked by percent increase in state aid over the next two years in Strickland’s proposal:
Anna 110.96 percent
Troy 30.06 percent
Sidney 29.26 percent
Monroe 23.62 percent
Bradford 23.58 percent
Russia 23.45 percent
Miamisburg 22.99 percent
Northridge 22.79 percent
Ross 21.28 percent
Edgewood 20.94 percent
Trotwood-Madison 18.39 percent
Beavercreek 18.28 percent
Hardin-Houston 17.87 percent
Tipp City 16.85 percent
Graham 16.67 percent
Middletown 14.37 percent
Southeastern 12.63 percent
Northeastern 12.34 percent
Mad River 12.18 percent
Greenville 11.71 percent
Eaton 11.29 percent
Piqua 10.98 percent
Greeneview 10.52 percent
Franklin-Monroe 9.98 percent
West Carrollton 9.59 percent
Dayton 9.49 percent
Fairlawn 9.19 percent
Jefferson Twp. 9.19 percent
New Miami 9.13 percent
Cedar Cliff 9.11 percent
Urbana 9.05 percent
Oakwood 8.52 percent
Northmont 8.52 percent
Valley View 8.48 percent
Fort Loramie 8.33 percent
Springfield 8.07 percent
Hamilton 8.05 percent
Brookville 8.03 percent
Covington 7.17 percent
West Liberty-Salem 6.91 percent
Bethel 6.87 percent
Botkins 6.33 percent
Greenon 5.84 percent
Triad 5.72 percent
Carlisle 5.65 percent
National Trail 5.63 percent
Jackson Center 5.59 percent
Tri-Village 5.35 percent
Huber Heights 5.07 percent
Lakota 4.76 percent
Xenia 4.53 percent
Twin Valley 4.49 percent
Fairfield 3.70 percent
Mississinawa Valley 3.62 percent
Kettering 3.36 percent
Tecumseh 3.27 percent
Ansonia 1.81 percent
Tri-County North 0.97 percent
Mason 0.69 percent
Arcanum 0 percent
Centerville 0 percent
Clark-Shawnee 0 percent
Fairborn 0 percent
Franklin 0 percent
Kings 0 percent
Lebanon 0 percent
Little Miami 0 percent
Madison 0 percent
Mechanicsburg 0 percent
Miami East 0 percent
Milton-Union 0 percent
New Lebanon 0 percent
Newton 0 percent
Northwestern 0 percent
Preble-Shawnee 0 percent
Springboro 0 percent
Sugarcreek 0 percent
Talawanda 0 percent
Vandalia-Butler 0 percent
Versailles 0 percent
Wayne 0 percent
Yellow Springs 0 percent
(Image credit: Chris Stewart, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (21) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, School Funding
