Many central Snohomish County schools ranked as only ‘fair’ or ‘struggling’

In 2005, the Legislature directed the State Board of Education to find out whether public schools are fulfilling their mission to educate children. The results are in. They show that, while some schools are excellent, officials at many schools have some work to do.

The results are reported in Washington Policy Center’s Public School Accountability Index, which is based on the state board’s findings. The board’s data includes test scores in reading, writing, math and science, and graduation rates. The state report uses a scale of one to seven to place over 2,000 Washington public schools in one of five performance categories: struggling, fair, good, very good and exemplary.

The index shows nearly 60 percent of Washington students attend schools rated only fair or struggling. Less than 10 percent of students attend schools rated very good or exemplary.

Of the 96 schools in the Everett, Mukilteo, Snohomish, Marysville and Lake Stevens school districts, six schools ranked as exemplary: Cedar Wood Elementary, Evergreen Middle, Gateway Middle, Silver Lake Elementary, Woodside Elementary and Marysville SD Special Ed. Six schools ranked very good, while 32 ranked as good, 36 as fair, and 16 as struggling. In all, 52 of the 96 schools in the Everett area scored in the lowest two rankings.

How can so many Everett-area public schools perform so poorly? Despite what you often hear, the problem is not lack of money. Washington has doubled education spending, adjusted for inflation, since 1980, while the number of students has increased by only a third. The people of Washington are generous in funding schools, providing $8 billion annually, or an average of $10,200 per student per year. Snohomish School District officials spend $9,630 per student, yet none of its 16 schools ranked as exemplary or very good, three of its schools ranked as good, seven ranked as fair, and six ranked as struggling. Nineteen of Marysville’s 21 schools ranked as fair or struggling, even though officials there spend $10,223 per student.

We have learned that simply increasing education spending does not improve learning for students. Large school budgets certainly benefit the grown-ups in the system, but public schools should be about educating children, not providing good jobs for adults.

Instead, school districts need proven reforms in how they spend money. For example, only 59 cents of every education dollar reaches the classroom, during layoffs the union requires that the youngest teachers are let go first, local principals are not allowed to hire the best teachers or fire bad ones, and innovative charter public schools are banned in our state.

Under the current system, principals have almost no influence over their school budget, staffing or educational program. Those decisions are made by the central administration. Giving principals control over their budget and letting them retain the best teachers would direct classroom resources where they are needed most.

More than a dozen large school districts across America put local principals in charge and hold them accountable. One of these is Baltimore City Public Schools. Before the reforms Baltimore principals controlled 3 percent of their budgets. Now they control 81 percent. The reform superintendent, Dr. Andrés Alonso, identified $165million in savings at the central office and redistributed a surplus of $88million to neighborhood schools.

Baltimore schools have dramatically improved by hiring principals who guide and inspire teachers to raise student performance. As a result, Baltimore’s schools were taken off the federal “needs to improve” list. School officials no longer complain about needing more money, and student achievement is up significantly in every grade.

In Washington state, parents and taxpayers deserve to know how their schools are doing, and no one wants to see a child stuck in a school considered just fair or struggling. If local districts want help, there are many ideas to consider. Having an honest conversation about how schools are run would do more for children than simply increasing taxes and boosting budgets.

Liv Finne is the education director at Washington Policy Center, a Seattle-based policy research organization. See the rankings for all schools at Washington Policy Center’s Public School Accountability Index, at washingtonpolicy.org.