COMMENTARY
Weighted student formula will have far-reaching effects
By Bruce A. Coppa
When I was asked to serve as the chairman of a state group tasked with developing a school funding method based on student need rather than enrollment, I was unaware of the profound impact that our recommendations likely would have on Hawai'i's public education system.
The group, the Department of Education's Committee on Weights, will determine not only how much money will be allocated to more than 250 public schools, but also set into motion a system that holds educators and the educational system accountable.
The weighted student formula is more than a mathematical equation. It is a tool that promotes equity based on student need by allowing principals the flexibility to shape their schools around the educational needs of their students.
Everything from the kind of textbooks purchased to the teachers hired will be determined by the make up of each school's student body. This means students with more needs — special education, limited English proficiency, low income, at-risk, gifted — ultimately will receive more resources. What's more, the weighted student formula is portable; funding follows students to whichever school they attend. This is as far from the status quo as you can get.
The weighted student formula enables principals to create a learning environment that promotes and supports student academic achievement. With this increased authority and flexibility over budgeting and operations, our principals essentially will become CEOs who will decide how to spend 70 percent of the DOE's operating budget.
Anyone who still needs convincing that this is definitely meaningful reform is encouraged to attend the committee's final meeting, Nov. 4 at the Honolulu Airport Hotel.
We will be presenting our recommendations, and you'll be delighted to see the vigor with which the committee's 42 members — who represent the DOE, charter schools, parents, the University of Hawai'i, the business community, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, military and Gov. Linda Lingle's office — tackled the challenge of creating a spending formula that will improve student academic performance.
Determining Hawai'i's formula will not be a long, drawn-out process. The committee has four months to come up with a formula to present to the Board of Education, which must adopt a weighted student formula by Dec. 1, 2005.
The formula will be used by the DOE to allocate money to schools in the 2006-2007 school year. Fortunately, the committee can learn from school districts in San Francisco, Houston and Edmonton, Alberta. All have successfully implemented their own weighted student formulas.
The task of determining a weighted student formula is not an easy one. But we, as a state, have very little choice in the matter. We must move forward to reform our ailing education system.
The 2004 Legislature gave us the tools to bring about this transformation when it passed Act 51, which the Department of Education has named the Reinventing Education Act for the Children of Hawai'i, or REACH. The establishment of a weighted student formula is just one of several substantive initiatives in the legislation.
If you support improving public education in Hawai'i, then I encourage you to take part in the reinvention process. You cannot afford not to.
The future of our children is at stake.
Bruce A. Coppa is managing director of the Pacific Resource Partnership.
