Why Not Call It the
“Leave No Property Value Behind” Act?
Gary West
February 19, 2004
Updated
March 27, 2004
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act1 became law in January 2002. It
establishes requirements for states, districts, and schools with regard to student performance. NCLB also establishes procedures for parents to move their children
out of failing schools and into successful schools.
NCLB permits parents to move their children whether or not there is classroom space at the school of the parents’
choice. It’s important to understand – “whether or not there is classroom space2.”
How does that work?
Let’s take a look at the impact of that requirement on your schools, your home’s property values, and your
local taxes – whether or not you have
children in school.
IN YOUR COMMUNITY
NCLB says there are only two types of schools in your community –
one type is 100% successful (let’s call that successful school “the A School”); the other is type is
not 100% successful. Any school that is 99% successful – or less –
is defined to be a failing school by NCLB (let’s call the failing school “the
F School”).
In your community, there are two types of families, according to NCLB –
one family has children at the A School; the other family has children at the F School.
NCLB also creates two types of homes – although it never says so. One type of home is in the attendance area of the A School; the other is in the attendance
area of the F School.
TAXPAYERS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
When the Federal government, through NCLB, permits parents to move their children between schools built with local tax dollars, two things will happen: (1) Local taxpayers will have some schools sitting half or fully
empty and (2) local taxpayers will have to pay for new classrooms –
either new buildings or portables – at the schools of the parents’ choice.
There is a third thing that has already happened – NCLB does not provide any funding for meeting these requirements.
NCLB is very clear: If parents want to move their child from the F School
to the A School, the district must cause that to happen – whether or not there
is classroom space. In addition, the district
must also provide the transportation for that to happen – which will require buses to criss-cross your community
for longer periods of time each day.
Everyone in your community is likely to see increased tax bills for new classrooms and more transportation. Whether or not you have
children in school, your local tax bills will likely increase to expand
the A School while leaving the F School under-utilized. Your local tax bills
will likely go up, whether or not you move
your child from the F School to the A School.
HOMEOWNERS AND OTHER PROPERTY OWNERS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Any realtor in your community will tell you that property values are significantly
affected by the school to which that community is assigned. If you live in
the attendance areas for the F School, your property values will go down – whether or not your have a child in school.
If you do have a child assigned to the F School and if you do send or take your child to the A School, your property
values will still go down.
If you live in the attendance area for the A School, your property values may go up; however, your property taxes will also go up – just as much as for those families who live in the attendance area
for the F School. Remember, the whole
community will have to pay for new classroom space at the A School. With
the increase in property taxes, even homeowners in the attendance area for the A School
will lose value in their homes.
As property values go down around the F School, property taxes will have to increase more in order to fund expansion
and operation of the A School – whether or not you have a child in school and whether or not you send or take your child
to the A School. Your local property
taxes will go up as your property value goes down.
BUSINESS AND REAL ESTATE IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Decreased property values and increased property taxes in the attendance area for the F School will make those homes
less attractive to prospective home buyers. Realtors
will find it hard to sell homes in the attendance area of the F School. When
they are able to make a sale, the decreased property values will mean that both the
original owner and the realtor will make less money.
As new potential buyers come into the community, they will ask realtors about the schools and they will be directed
to the attendance area for the A School. Without potential buyers for homes in
the attendance area for the F School, property values will go down still more. Realtors will be less inclined to direct prospective buyers into that attendance area
because there is more profit and commission in selling homes in the attendance area for the A School.
At the same time, as property taxes go up throughout the district, all homes
become harder to sell.
PARENTS AND STUDENTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
If you and your family live in the attendance area for the A School, you are
probably happy with the 100% success rate your schools have demonstrated in service to your child. You have probably been actively involved with the school and with your child throughout the school year. That is what makes a successful school. That
is what makes a successful student.
Under NCLB, if your school district also has an F School, your child’s
school can be changed – over just one summer.
The F School has not been successful – because many parents of students
at the F School are not actively involved in the school or with their children.
Many parents of students at the F School have not built relationships with the school, the teachers – even their
own children – in ways that have created the success that has happened at the A School.
Under NCLB, those same parents of students at the F School can choose to send their children to your child’s
school. That does not mean they will now become more active in the school, with
the teachers, or with their own children. They will, in all likelihood, do at
the A School exactly what they were doing at the F School – drop off their children without adding value to your child’s
school. Instead, they will take advantage
of the hard work already done by the parents at the A School without taking any responsibility to help that school succeed
with their children or yours.
In just one summer, your child’s school will be very different from
what it was last school year.
NCLB’s requirements that parents be allowed to move their children from the F School to the A School will have an impact on the ability of the A School to maintain its 100% success rate. When the A School slips below 100% – even to 99% – NCLB will re-classify that school as an
F School. What happens then? Will
you then begin looking for another
A School for your child?
As you debate that decision, remember that the school district must provide transportation for your child if you want
to move him or her to an A School after your school becomes an F School. Your
child’s time on a school bus will increase dramatically. There will be
no funding for new buses; thus, the same number of buses will be used to move your child and others whatever distance is necessary
to find the next A School. Buses will be criss-crossing your school district
– with longer routes – taking students from the attendance area of the F Schools to the A Schools. Many students will be spending much more time on buses. The other option, of course, is that you drive your child to the next A School.
And, much of that will happen because your child’s A School became an
F School as a result of NCLB.
LEGISLATORS AND POLITICIANS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Because NCLB provides no funding to deal with the building of additional classrooms at your district’s A Schools,
your state legislators and local governments will have to support and levy large increases
in property taxes or other taxes to fund expansion of the A Schools in your local school district – despite state
legislation that might claim to reduce local governments’ responsibility to maintain even the previous year’s
commitment to your local schools. They will have no other options because federal
mandates will override the state legislation – and NCLB clearly states that parents can move their children from the
F Schools to the A Schools of their choice – whether or not there is available classroom space. NCLB clearly
provides no funding for this requirement – thus, your local governments will be required to find the funds.
As the Federal government sets more requirements for your locally operated schools, more local tax dollars will be required to meet those unfunded Federal mandates.
In February 2004, the Utah State Legislature passed laws saying that Utah would implement only the NCLB mandates that were fully funded by the Federal legislation. The Federal government made it clear that such action was not acceptable and that
Federal funds totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for instructional programs would be withheld from Utah if the state and local governments did not fund and implement the NCLB operational
mandates.
State Legislatures, county councils and commissions, and local school boards are
required to fund new classrooms at the A Schools – with your local tax dollars.
They are required to fund transportation for students whose parents want them to attend the A Schools – with
your local tax dollars.
SCHOOLS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
All schools are affected by NCLB; however, NCLB does not make allowances for the reality of school operations. In every state, teachers have unions, tenure, or due process. Teachers cannot, by law, be fired or demoted without cause and without due process. As the F School retains fewer students, it will also retain fewer teachers.
The other teachers at the F School will be moved to the A School to handle
the population changes there.
When the A School admits all those students from the F School – and moves the needed teachers from the F School
to the A School – the A School will struggle in maintaining its 100% success
rate – and if it falls to 99%, it will become an F School. This is not a reflection on the teaching; it is simply a function (as stated above) of
the change in the school’s population and the change in the level of parent involvement.
Every community will be unable to raise enough local taxes to fund the building, transportation, and other costs required
by NCLB. As a result, significant amounts of money currently used for instruction – materials, textbooks, library books, class-size controls, classroom assistants,
teachers, and other costs – will be diverted to pay for classrooms and transportation. In addition to increased taxes, parents may see significant increases in school fees.
CONCLUSIONS AND SOLUTIONS
NCLB will cost local taxpayers a ton of money – in local taxes and fees – because it does not fund the
things that are about to happen in your community’s schools. Beginning as early as the summer of 2004, your district will be moving students from the F Schools to the A Schools
– whether or not there are available
classrooms. Some of your community’s schools could be only half
full while other schools could get new classrooms and/or portables.
Common sense would indicate that other solutions would be available –
and that those solutions can create improved student performance without creating political definitions of failing schools.
Instead of penalizing schools, moving children from one school to another, closing a good school building and adding
classrooms onto other buildings…there are other things that can be done. The following are the most obvious – and most sensible – alternatives
to the excessive negative economic impact of NCLB on your community.
· School accountability legislation should support schools and students where they are – which requires no building, no portables, no empty
schools. The funding that is required for unnecessary additional classrooms could
be better spent on learning resources. Schools and teachers need the resources
to teach and to create learning by students. Those resources include technology,
reference and research materials, factual and current textbooks and other print materials, and more.
· School accountability legislation should insist that parents get involved with teachers, their schools, their communities – even with their own children,
in many cases. The education process cannot be managed by the schools alone. Parents must be involved in building character
in their children – schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved
in building work ethic in their children – schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved in building an appreciation
for education – schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved
in creating a fully functional citizen who can contribute positively to our society
– schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved in the health and nutrition of their children – schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved in supporting the mastery of academic
standards – schools cannot do that alone. Parents must be involved
in the education of all children, not just their own – and schools can help
them do that. Instead of moving the students from school to school, education
accountability legislation should simply move the parents into the school. There is not a school anywhere in the country that will not welcome the assistance
that every parent can add to the education of all children.
· School accountability legislation can add much to the involvement
of parents and community in the success of any school by providing a meaningful way
of identifying a school’s needs with regard to improving student achievement.
NCLB’s school grading scheme makes no sense and provides only worthless labels about schools. With NCLB, it’s 100% or nothing. Your child’s
school is good if it is 100% successful; your child’s school fails if it is only 99% successful. Does that tell you anything about your child’s school? The
school grading scheme should provide real information to parents, to educators, to
local leaders, to the community, and to taxpayers. That information should
lead to real improvements – not just political labeling and not just to desertion of a community’s schools. Everyone – whether or not you have a child in school – should let your elected representatives know immediately
that something else must be done – and it must be done immediately and it must be done with the common good in mind.
· And finally, everyone
should get involved with the local schools – whether or not you have children in schools.
Everyone wants a better education for his or her child. That can happen for everyone’s child only within a framework
that serves every child. NCLB’s approach is not realistic, not economical,
and not practicable. It deals only with the politics of education.
NCLB does not deal with the realities of your child’s schools or your
community’s efforts. Whether you view NCLB’s impact from the
perspective of a taxpayer, a home owner,
a parent, a business person, an elected official, or a person who cares
about your community’s schools – NCLB does not offer fiscal or educational solutions that make sense within your
local realities. If you have concerns about NCLB’s impact (on fiscal realities)
or the lack of impact (on educational realities), please let your elected officials
– your school boards, county councils, state legislators, congressional representatives, and the President – know
about those concerns.
Right now, NCLB does not
bring value to the table in education reform. In fact, NCLB will decrease the value of everything around you as it tries to make its political point.
Footnotes
1 The NCLB website is http://www.nclb.gov. The school choice webpage is at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/about/choice.html.
2 The school-choice guidelines posted on the NCLB website state that “When capacity is an issue,
school officials will need to employ creativity
and ingenuity in creating capacity
in schools to receive additional students.” (The emphasis is the author’s.) The guidelines then offer ten possible creative and ingenious options, ranging from
“redrawing the district’s attendance zones” (that is, zone the existing students somewhere else to make
room for those who choose to move from another school) to “modifying either the school calendar or the school day”
(that is, let some students go to school from 8 to 12 and others from 12 to 4) to “initiating inter-district programs
with neighboring [school districts]” (that is, send some of your students to another county). None of the options for creativity or ingenuity involves Federal funding to cover the school district’s
costs for capacity. The guidelines state clearly, however, that “[A school
district] may not use lack of capacity
to deny students the option to transfer…” (Again, the emphasis is
the author’s.) See the School Choice Guidelines at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/schoolchoiceguid.doc.
Additional Note
This
is an important election year. We might want to mobilize our communities to inspire our legislators to mobilize like Utah
did. After all, Mr. Paige, in Washington, was recently quoted as saying Mr. Bush had listened to the states about special
ed, LEP, and a few other recent changes in NCLB. We just need to get Mr. Sanford, Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Leatherman, and the rest
of the crew back on a jet to DC (remember the Medicaid rescue mission) to say SC can't handle these types of costs and causes.
About the Author
Gary West has lived in South Carolina for more than 30 years. At times, he is confused but more often confounded
by South Carolina politics, which he compares to the plantation politics of the Old South –
where the masters believe that only they know “The Truth” and they insist that everyone else know it exactly the
same way. Mr. West has been a public school teacher, a private school teacher,
a college-level instructor, a high school coach, a technology geek, and more within school systems in North and South Carolina. He has taught in the poorest districts in South Carolina and has worked in more affluent districts. He has also survived the education
of two daughters and a son (if this can be described as “surviving” – and there is the nagging question
about who was educated more, him or them). He writes for educational and technology
journals as well as writing cathartic little pieces like this article. He even
gets a chance to think about the meanings of life every so often, now that his children are grown (if you can call whatever
they are now as “grown”). He cares about what happens to education. Mr. West can be reached at garywwest@earthlink.net. This article and others can be accessed online at http://home.earthlink.net/~garywwest/.
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