Can Iowa afford another K-12 expansion?

By The Des Moines Register

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Iowa doesn't have a K-12 education system. Not really. It would be more accurate to call it a “Pre-K-Post-12” system. A few years ago, state lawmakers added preschool for 4-year-olds. The vast majority of school districts offer it. In 2010, a record 38,283 Iowa high students took college-level courses.

This expansion of education gives young children an earlier start in school. It allows older students to take a greater variety of courses, from advanced physics to automotive repair.

But it also costs taxpayers more money - at a time when school districts say they cannot adequately finance the traditional 13 years of public education.

It raises questions that need to be addressed by school districts, state officials and lawmakers.

Is this expansion financially sustainable in the long run?

Once lawmakers give people something, it is virtually impossible to take it away. Case in point: preschool.

Iowans rebelled at proposals this legislative session to scale back public funding for the statewide program that costs more than $60 million. Parents have quickly come to believe their kids have a right to earlier education. Schools want the extra state money that comes with offering preschool. Enrollment is growing and so is the cost to taxpayers.

Like it or not, preschool has become a new entitlement.

And it feels like the same thing is happening with college-level courses. Since 2006, the number of high school students taking them has grown from about 25,000 to more than 38,000. That costs taxpayers money, too.

Districts were projected to receive $17.8 million in additional state aid for offering community college courses through “concurrent enrollment” in 2011, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Community colleges collected $15.6 million through agreements with high schools in 2010.

These courses offer students both high school and college credit for the same class. In an example provided by the Iowa Department of Education, a college-level foreign language course with 20 students could generate an additional $3,382 for a district. But as more districts offer such courses and the cost to the public increases, Iowa must consider the future financial implications.

Are we making the best use of our public education money? And what exactly are taxpayers buying?

Are the courses as rigorous as they should be?

Randall Damon, a veteran Des Moines teacher, says his qualms with the quality of “college-level” Chinese classes prompted him to quit his job at Central Campus. In a letter to parents a few weeks ago, he wrote that scheduling changes in the Des Moines schools left him unable to cover as much material as he had in previous years.

“As things stand now,” he wrote, “students are misled into thinking they are getting legitimate college-level classes. ... Only when they get to college will they realize they are unprepared for that level and unable to keep up.”

A few days later, Central's director, Gary McClanahan, sent a letter to parents disputing that assertion. “In fact, Central's Chinese class has the same number of contact hours per semester as the Chinese class taught at the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC),” he wrote.

But state officials haven't tracked passing and failing rates in these classes, and they don't know whether course work is as rigorous as what is offered on a community college campus. They are in the midst of collecting data, which could eventually shine more light on this issue. It's important the state ensure that college courses taken in a high school are as educational and challenging as the same class taken on a college campus.

Most high schools likely would not offer college-level classes if the state did not provide additional money to do so. So the state does, and many districts tap into this flow of money. That's fine.

But taxpayers and students must be assured the classes are worth the cost and effort.