Alaska Legislative Digest Bradners’ Reprint from Dig 1/16

School costs Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco

Publishers Tim and Mike Bradner, akdigest@gmail.com, Tim, (907) 440-6068, or Mike: (907) 242-6572

- Reprint from one of our 2016 reports

Digest 19-19, April 24, 2019

Our metro districts compare favorably with peers

- By Mike Bradner, publisherSchools are one of our four big state program costs, and thid spending gets the most public at-

tention. We previously pointed out that comparing state-to-state school costs is like comparing moving targets. Usually, the best we can do is find districts that are relatively comparable, mean-ing similar size and similar characteristics.

Even then you’re talking about a relative comparison that is roughly in “the ball park.” Com-parisons are difficult. However, we make them because they tell us something about whether weare overspending, under spending, and they make is examine the ”why of spending.’

In 2010 an Anchorage taxpayer group attempted a comparison of Anchorage, Seattle, and SanFrancisco for the year 2008-2009. The Anchorage School District also did a similar comparison based on: (1) Actual expenditures, (2) Expenditures less past service retirement costs, and (3)Expenditures excluding capital projects.

These districts have similarities and differences (2016 data)• Anchorage has an enrollment of 48,500 students, with these demographics:

Asian 11%, Native 9%, Hispanic 11%, Black 6%, White 44%.

• Seattle has an enrollment of 49,000 students, but has a larger non-whitedemographic. Demographics are Asian 22%; Hispanic 11.8%; Black 20.4%, and White 13%.

• San Francisco has an enrollment of 75,000; with a composition of Asian 34%; Hispanic 28%; Black 6%, and White 13%.

One differences in these three districts are in demographics: All three have non-white ma-jorities, but the margin is significantly larger for Seattle and San Francisco. However, the cir-cumstances and backgrounds of the minorities differ. Alaska is unique in having funding costdifferentials due to higher costs in the state’s various regions.

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School Cost differentials: Anchorage “1” to Yukon Flats “2.004” Our state K-12 school support formula compensates schools with higher cost to

ensureequal ability to deliver school purchasing power.

School District Reg. Cost Differential

Alaska Gateway

Aleutians East

Aleutians Region

Anchorage Lowest, the base

Annette Island

Bering Straits

Bristol Bay

Chatham

Chugach

Copper River

Cordova

Craig

Delta/Greely

Denali

Dillingham

Fairbanks

Galena

Haines

Hoonah

Hydaburg

Iditarod

Juneau

Kake

Kashunamiut

Kenai Peninsula

Ketchikan

Kodiak Island

1.519

1.849

1.890

1.000

1.257

1.821

1.414

1.462

1.445

1.282

1.199

1.158

1.201

1.329

1.324

1.063

1.388

1.352

1.313

1.401

1.782

1.111

1.350

1.562

1.130

1.127

1.241

School District Reg. Cost Differential

Ketchikan 1.127

Kodiak Island 1.241

Kuspuk 1.660

Lake & Peninsula 1.886

Lower Kuskokwim 1.621

Lower Yukon 1.756

Mat-Su 1.056

Mt. Edgecumbe 1.148

Nenana 1.323

Nome 1.419

North Slope 1.684

NW Arctic 1.720

Petersburg 1.184

Pribilof 1.623

Sitka 1.148

Skagway 1.167

Southeast Islands 1.334

Southwest Region 1.623

St. Mary’s 1.556

Tanana 1.713

Unalaska 1.393

Valdez 1.153

Wrangell 1.120

Yakutat 1.323

Yukon Flats (Highest) 2.004

Yukon-Koyukuk 1.753

Yupiit 1.660

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Comparison of cost per student for three

urban school districts 2008 – 2009

Anchorage Seattle San Francisco Local taxpayer advocacy group comparison of budgets $15,072 $12,274 $10,318

• Does not factor in all budgeted funds; e.g. debt service

• Does not factor in actual expenditures.

• Does not factor in past service retirement adjustments

• Does not factor in allocated vs. budgets funds for San Francisco.

Anchorage School District comparisons Adopted budgets $15,225 $14,119 $12,257

Actual expenditure of budget $14,969 $13,496 $13,950

Actual expenditures Less past service retirement costs $12,997 $13,496 $13,816

Actual expenditures including capital expenditures $16,244 $16,694 $16,395

Things have changed but we still compare favorably

Critics discredit comparisons by finding an error in detail and using that to ham-mer overall credibility. Skip the detail, the general comparison tells the story. An-chorage-Seattle-San Francisco, despite some differences, compare favorably. Wewould also expect the Anchorage district to be higher, given Alaska costs.

Our gap between school districts across the country increased due to the U.S. Economy crash after 2008. School districts were forced to reduce school spending, while we increased modestly. However, now the reverse is the case with a growing robust economy in the Lower-48 allowing increases in general school funding and teacher salaries while we remain relatively flat funded.

Legislative Digest No. 19/19 reprint Dig 1/16

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Looking at district school spending in Ohio

- Continued from previous pageWe took a look at other states and their metropolitan districts and selected Ohio

because the state has three metropolitan districts similar to Anchorage, Seattle, and San Francisco. There is also Ohio has a great deal in common with neighboring states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota).

Ohio Metropolitan Districts

Ohio District # students Per student $$$

Cleveland city district Columbus metro district Cincinnati metro Dayton Youngstown Akron

50,000 49,581 32,003 14,047 6,047 22,425

$15,072 $14,967 $14,067 $14,174 $15,408 $14,032 n

Cleveland Suburban Districts

Cleveland Shaker Heights Warren Heights Orange City Cuyahoga Heights Cleveland Heights East Cleveland Danbury Local Beachwood

5,388 1,954 2,143 946 5,906 3,182 658

$16,747 $15,243 $21,453 $17,988 $18,461 $16,872 $16,899 $19,165

Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), only 77 square miles, hosts 18 school districts; Anchorage has a single district in an area of 1,710 square miles. In FY-10 Anchorage had 49,067 students, Cleveland 50,000; Anchorage spent $12,225 to $14,969 per student (from page 3), while Cleveland Metro spent $14,573.

The Midwest states have a lot in common, but we looked Ohio because it has three large metropolitan areas: Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. In addition, Ohio has other major industrial (or former industrial) cities, i.e. Sandusky, Akron, and Mansfield.

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Legislative Digest No. 19/19 reprint Dig 1/16

Ohio School districts outside the metro and suburban districts

Ohio District # students Per student $$$

Little Miami 3,833 $7,959 Tuslaw SD 1,040 $7,749 Tuscarawas 1,154 $7,947 Union Scioto Valley 2,185 $7,929 Springboro SD 7,397 $7,926 Southington Local 597 $7485 Marion SD 2,084 $7459 Indian Valley 7,880 $7,580

Ohio: $21,453 per student to $7,580 per student

In Ohio per capita school spending ranges from $21,453 in Orange City, to $7,580 per student in Indian Valley. No equalized funding here.

Each one of the categories provides just a snapshot of Ohio districts. We list 25 of Ohio’s 614 districts. This brings up another point. By and large across the country school districts are many and relatively small. They are organized as school districts of counties, townships, villages, suburbs, and etc. There are 13,500 to 15,014 school districts in the U.S., depending on what gets called a school district.

State # districts State # districts State #districts

Ohio 614 Indiana 291 Illinois 905 Michigan 576 Minnesota 338 Iowa 366 Texas 1,081 Missouri 534 Wisconsin 413 Montana 332 Washington 295 Oregon 230 Rhode Isl. 36 Vermont 291 New Hamp. 176

What the above reflects is that people like their school districts “local,” and that school reform in the form of school consolidation doesn’t come easy. School boardmembers can testify to this. Even in larger districts the act of just changing attend-anceboundaries is a political hot potato for school boards.

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Now we come to the Alaska anomaly In Alaska our low-cost base is the metro-school district of Anchorage. There are no

suburban districts. In other states the big metro-districts tend to be tax-poor inner-city districts surrounded by tax-wealthy suburban districts. If the Anchorage area were placed in Ohio, Eagle River would likely be a separate district, likewise the Hillside, other partsof South Anchorage, and Girdwood.

Anchorage is one large district, inclusive of wealthier neighborhoods as well as poor-er. Obviously costs vary greatly in our state, so to keep funding equitable we must adjustthe funding to meet the higher costs of other districts. In addition, costs can vary greatly between school sites within these districts.

The anomaly is that in Alaska the bigger urban districts are the lower cost districts, considerably lower than the statewide figure. In the Lower-48 states the big urban dis-tricts are higher than statewide figures, with rural schools costing less.

• Anchorage spending per student $14,969 • State cost spending per student $18,175 Metro lower - $4,025

• Cleveland spending per student $15,022 Metro higher + 4,000 • Ohio state spending per student $11,197

What gets quoted . . . .

What gets quoted is our statewide $18,175 per student figure. However, in other states there tends to be relatively commonnconditions between districts across the states, whether districts are large or small.

In Alaska, school districts outside the urban centers face see hugedifferences that dramatically affect cost. Fuel oil in Alaska in 2015 ranged from $3.86/gallon to $6.25/gallon; a can of chili from .99-cents to $3.85. There is little commonality with which to compare small Alaska districts and schoola.

In order to measure whether our schools are too expensive compared with others, what we have to compare is our

more similar metro-districts.

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Continued from the bottom of page 2 – regional costs!

The layout on page 2 is the index for the increase in costs back in FY-09. This is thesame time frame as our Anchorage-Seattle-San Francisco comparison on page 3. Anchor-age is the cost base of “1.” The railbelt school districts are reasonable close to the Anchor-age base, Mat-Su being 1.056, Kenai 1.130 Denali 1.329, and Fairbanks 1.63. The high district is Yukon Flats at 2.004

It is important to understand that our state K-12 school support system, as nearly as is possible, attempts to create equity in

school buying power among our school districts.

Many other states there is state support, but the main funding sourceis often local districts with local taxes. This creates disparities in funding

- poor districts are poor and rich districts rich!

Alaska costs? Its simple!

Anchorage is 1,445 miles from Seattle Anchorage to Nome is 537 miles

Stebbins 120 miles from Nome, on St. Michael Is. Bethel is 346 miles from Anchorage

Anchorage to Gambell, St. Lawrence Is. 737 miles Kotlik is 167 miles 2 stops from Bethel

Kotlik is 167 miles from from Marshall up river Nulato is 310 miles from Fairbanks

Fort Yukon is 143 air miles from Fairbanks Arctic Village is 374 air miles from Fairbanks

Kotzebue is 477 air miles from Anchorage Point Hope is 149 miles from Kotzebue * All above connected by air only

Anchorage to Atka/Aleutians air is 1,100 milesAnchorage to Unalaska by air is 792 miles

Anchorage to Shemya is 1,452 miles

* Above three connected by air - limited water ACC Store St. Marys

Lower Yukon Page 7

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High Rent suburban districts – Illinois The list to the left is a partial list of Dupage High School Dist $19,343 the high rent suburban school dis-Thornton Township HSD District $19,584

The Illinois school support system

tricts in Illinois. Northbrook SD 28 $19,606 Township HSD $19,734 Winnerka SD $19,774 allows these districts to spend more Salt Creek SD $19,842 because they have more wealth. Venice CUSD $29,838 Oak Park, River Forest $20,838 Northbrook ESD $21,196 Our system in Alaska provides equi-CHSD 118 $21,255 ty in financial support – meaning Union SD81 $21,562 equal buying power of the educa-

This list of tax wealth districts continuse, these tional dollar!

Who are we . . . . The Alaska Legislative Digest and Alaska Economic Report are Alaska’s oldest

public policy report, dating to 1971. However, Mike and Tim Bradner have been di-rectly involved in or writing on Alaska economic, development, and policy events since the early 1960s.

We report on things as they happen but frameIssue in institutional and historical context. As time allows and circumstance requites we publishspecial reports on specific issues like this report.

- Tim Bradner - Mike Bradner

Tim formerly worked for the original BP, then its form as SOHIO, and then BP. He has worked for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Journal of Commerce, worked on the North Slope doing geophysical work before Prudhoe Bay, and holds an MA from Harvard.

Mike worked on the Yukon River as a mate and pilot in territorial and early statehood years. He was a reporter for the Daily News Miner, worked for other journals, served in theLegislature from mid-1960s to mid-1970s, and was Speaker of the House in 1976 when thePermanent Fund was created. He attended the University of Alaska in Territorial years and isa graduate of the University of Alaska (Fairbanks).

Legislative Digest No. 19/19, Reprint Dig 1/16

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