TABOR #2: Closer Than We Think?

How much of the following sounds familiar? Maine people were told by the “powers that be” that the state’s schools were too costly. The problem, it was said, was that the educational system supported too many different schools and school districts, which resulted in wasted resources. It was argued that the solution was to create larger school districts and larger educational bureaucracies. Legislators in Augusta enacted laws eliminating countless community-led school boards across the state and handing over more power and influence to bureaucrats in Augusta. Though many people across the state protested this move, it went ahead anyway, despite few solid predictions about what might result.

Thus begins a report released Friday by the (conservative) Maine Heritage Policy Center, Stephen Bowen, author. You can view the full report here.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the report is not what is said directly about the present consolidation train -- which seemingly nothing will derail -- but the analysis of the net results in numbers of schools, school size, expenditures, and numbers of educational bureaucrats and administrators resulting from the implementation of the Sinclair Act of 1957.

As professional administrators and bureaucrats replaced community school boards, administrative costs increased. Per pupil spending on administration grew 406 percent, in 2002 dollars, from 1950 to 1980. Over that same period, the number of people working for the Maine Department of Education tripled.

The first three arrows are hardly surprising; number four, though, is the kicker!

The author makes a further conclusion about administrative costs: they will continue to grow:

Correspondingly, the percent of each educational dollar spent on administration will likely climb, rather than fall, as educational bureaucracies continue to grow. In 1960, 3.4 percent of overall education costs were spent on administration, but by 2000, 6.7 percent of overall spending was, despite the consolidation efforts of the Sinclair Act era.

How long will it be before the data come in that allow us to test this projection? Remember that this reform was all about costs -- costs of education -- with budgetary savings already "banked."

Can you say TABOR #2?