pennsylvania’s best investment: the social and economic benefits of public education

Pennsylvania’s Best Investment:The Social and Economic Benefits

of Public EducationDavid Baker, Ph.D. Professor of EducationPennsylvania State University

Baruch Kintisch. J.D. Staff AttorneyEducation Law Center

Contact information:

David Baker, Ph.D. Baruch Kintisch, J.D.Professor of Education Staff AttorneyPennsylvania State University Education Law Center310A Rackley 1315 Walnut Street, #400University Park, PA 16802 Philadelphia, PA 19107(814) 863-0955 215-238-6970, ext. [email protected] [email protected]

THE FULL REPORT WITH CITATIONS IS AVAILABLE ON LINE AT

www.elc-pa.org

THREE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS

Q: How much is (or should be) invested in public education?



Q: What are the potential benefits of this investment?



Q: What are the potential benefits of this investment?

Q: Are these benefits actually realized?


Public education is the biggest

initiative undertaken by

many governments around the world.

• Developed nations around the world invest an average of ____ of their gross domestic product (GDP) in systems of public schooling.

Public education is the biggest initiative.

• Developed nations around the world invest an average of 5.1% of their gross domestic product (GDP) in systems of public schooling.


• In the United States, _____ percent of GDP is invested in public education.


• In the United States, 3.9% percent of GDP is invested in public education.


• State governments in the U.S. contribute an average of _____ of this overall cost.


• State governments in the U.S. contribute an average of 47% of this overall cost.


• State government in Pennsylvania contributes 35.3% of the overall cost of public education.


• The 2007 Costing-out Study commissioned by the General Assembly found that the state should raise its investment in public education by $4.3 billion.


Pennsylvania Public Education Costs (2005-06) (Data from Pa. Dept. of Ed.)

Contrary to common expectations, most funding for public education comes from local sources.

Total annual costs from all sources = $20.96 billion

From local revenue sources = $12.39 billion (59.1% of total)

From state revenue sources = $ 7.41 billion (35.3% of total)

From federal revenue sources = $ 0.86 billion (4.1% of total)

From other sources = $ 0.30 billion (1.4% of total)


What is the purpose of public education?

• Education is primarily a way to train children in the skills they will need as adults to find good jobs and live well.


• Education also has broader social and economic benefits for individuals, families, and society at large.


• Benefits are received even by people whose relationship to public schools does not extend beyond “taxpayer.”


• Education serves a vitally important role as a long-term investment in a strong labor force, strong families and strong, safe, and healthy communities.


Social and economic benefits of public education include:

• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________

The Efficacy of Education – How it Works

• PREMISE: Schools produce broad social and economic gains through the education of individual children.

The Efficacy of Education

• The fundamental outcome desired for education is that it will pass on to each child the information and skills they will use throughout their lifetime.


• Schooling increases the facts known and understood by students in academic subjects.

• More importantly, education improves decision-making ability and reasoning skills.


• The cumulative impact of these academic benefits helps individuals to have more options for and to make better decisions about their lives.


• Improved options and decision-making include better choices about work, better risk assessment concerning deviant or criminal behavior, and better personal health choices.


• Thus, the cognitive-intellectual gains that children and youth make in school contribute to the social and economic benefits derived from education for all members of society.


• As economist Milton Friedman wrote, “the education of my child contributes to other people’s welfare by promoting a stable and democratic society”.


Education and Employment

• The expansion of universal high school education in the U.S. between 1915 and the 1950s explains beyond any other factor the economic dominance of the U.S. in the 20th century.


• High school dropouts are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than people who have attended college.


• The ripple effect of dropouts costs the nation billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and in welfare, unemployment, and crime prevention programs.


• From a national perspective, decreasing the number of high school dropouts by half would produce $45 billion per year in net economic benefit to society.


• For example, when the benefits of increased tax revenue are added to reduced welfare spending, investment in quality pre-kindergarten programs return up to $17 for every dollar spent.


Education and Employment U.S. Unemployment Rates by Educational

Attainment (Jan. 2008)

Unemployment is much higher for students not completing high school.

U.S. overall 4.9 %

High school dropouts 7.7 %

High school graduates 4.6 %

Some college 3.6 %

College graduates 2.1 %

Education and Crime

• Education provides the best opportunity to reduce crime and its cost to society by helping children to gain knowledge, skills, and character that help them avoid criminal activity.

Education and Crime

• The lack of quality education or incomplete education are major contributors to unemployment, crime, and incarceration.

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:

oTangible and intangible costs to victims

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:o Tangible and intangible costs to victims

oCourt costs associated with the prosecution of crime

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:o Tangible and intangible costs to victimso Court costs associated with the prosecution of crime

oCosts of incarceration (infrastructure, staff, housing and food, counseling, prisoner education programs)

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:o Tangible and intangible costs to victimso Court costs associated with the prosecution of crimeo Costs of incarceration (infrastructure, staff, housing and food,

counseling, prisoner education programs)

oIndirect economic costs associated with productivity and wages lost to both victims and offenders

Education and Crime

• The overall “price tag” for crime includes:o Tangible and intangible costs to victimso Court costs associated with the prosecution of crimeo Costs of incarceration (infrastructure, staff, housing and food,

counseling, prisoner education programs)o Indirect economic costs associated with productivity and wages lost to

both victims and offenders

oDecreased opportunities available to those with a prison record

Education and Crime

• The National Institute of Justice estimates that these costs total $450 billion annually, or $1,800 for each U.S. resident.

Education and Crime

• Roughly 41% of all federal, state, and local prisoners in 1997 had not completed high school or received a GED, while that was true of only 18% of the general population age 18 or older.

Education and Crime

• The main reasons that well-educated people are less likely to engage in criminal activity are related to their employment status and their perception of their own employability.

Education and Crime

• Studies have found significant connections between graduation rates and the reduction of crime.

Education and Crime

• The social and economic benefits of a 1 percent increase in male graduation rates (from reduced crime alone) would have amounted to $1.4 billion.

Education and Crime

Education and Crime

Pennsylvania Crime Statistics

The level of crime and its cost are very high in PA.

•955,725 crimes were reported in PA in 2005.•Nearly 1 in 4 of those arrested were under age 18.•The cost of incarceration is $31,900/year/person.•In 2001, there were 37,105 individuals under state custody, which cost $1,203,219,000. (This level of expenditure places PA behind only NY among northeast states for total expenditures, and seventh in the nation.)

Education and Health

• People with higher levels of education tend to live longer, healthier lives and depend less on government-funded health programs than people with less education.


• Adults who dropped out of high school are more likely than graduates to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease, cancer, infection, injury, lung disease, and diabetes.


• Better education also produces better decision-makers and better gatherers of information, allowing individuals to make better choices about health care for themselves and their families.


• People who drop out of high school are six times more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs than people with a college degree, and twice as likely as people who start but do not finish college.


• More education also makes individuals more employable, and more likely to keep well-paid jobs (with health insurance) for longer.


• Better educated people are also more likely to seek preventative care. Preventative care reduces expenditures by heading off costly illnesses and by lowering emergency room use.


• In 2007, half of the visits to Pennsylvania emergency rooms did not actually require immediate health care, costing roughly $232 million.


• People with less education are more likely to enroll in public health assistance programs like Medicaid (17% vs. 7% of college graduates).


• The average high school dropout consumes $2,700 in public health insurance cost per year, the average high school graduate, $1,000, and the average college graduate, just $170.


• Over 1.8 million PA residents – 15% of all residents – receive public health insurance (Medicaid). The state spends over $12 billion on public health insurance each year.


• Nationally, if every high school drop-out in 2004 had graduated, the savings in total health costs to the public would have been $41.8 billion dollars over their lifetime.


Education and Civic and Political Participation

http://blogs.e-rockford.com/applesauce/files/2008/08/voting.jpg

• Improved educational opportunity and attainment have been found to strengthen social engagement in many ways.

Education and Civic & Political Participation

• Education increases voter participation, participation in volunteer organizations, and personal tolerance of different viewpoints.


• Just a 1-year increase in median education level is associated with more than a 13 % jump in voter turnout.


• People with a college education participated in the 2004 presidential election at three times the rate of high school dropouts.


• In addition to the cognitive benefits of schooling, a good educational climate allows children to practice civic activities in the classroom.


• Public schools represent a crucial opportunity for the development of social cohesion in American communities, especially between diverse groups.


• The PA Supreme Court found in 2003 that individuals of color, with low income, and low levels of educational attainment are under-represented on most juries.


Breaking the Community-School Cycle of Inequality

• Achieving the extensive and diverse benefits of public education proven by experience and research depends on ______

The Community-School Cycle of Inequality

• Achieving the extensive and diverse benefits of public education proven by experience and research depends on having quality schools in all communities.


• Having quality schools in all communities depends on ______


• Having quality schools in all communities depends on providing the educational resources and conditions that allow children a fair chance to succeed.


• Providing the necessary educational resources and conditions depends on ________


• Providing the necessary educational resources and conditions depends on providing funding at appropriate levels based on school and student needs.


• Providing funding at appropriate levels based on school and student needs depends on _____


• Providing funding at appropriate levels based on community, school and student needs depends on federal, state, and local support.


In Pennsylvania:• Local Support = 59.1% of total

• State Support = 35.3% of total• Federal Support = 4.1% of total


• So in PA, funding, educational resources, quality schools, and the resulting social and economic benefits are overly dependent on local wealth.


• Excessive dependence on local wealth is the spark that starts the community-school cycle of inequality.



Low academic

achievement in ONE

generation


Low academic achievement

in ONE generation Low academic

achievement in THE NEXT generation





Persistent local poverty

and economic disadvantage






and economic disadvantage

High cost to meet the needs

of disadvantaged

children






and economic disadvantageHigh cost to

meet the needs of

disadvantaged children

Insufficient local wealth to afford the

needed school resources






and economic disadvantageHigh cost to

meet the needs of

disadvantaged children

Insufficient local wealth to

afford the needed school

resources

High property taxes drive

away businesses

and residents

• Ironically, the wealthiest school districts can often afford to spend up to twice as much per student as districts with more complicated and expensive academic challenges.


• With new and increased resources from the state, the cycle of inequality can be broken. Educators know how to achieve better outcomes for disadvantaged students.


• Most families, schools, and communities caught in the community-school cycle of inequality are unable to overcome these circumstances without outside assistance.


• It is ultimately in the best interest of the state to ensure that resources and support are available to provide quality schools for all children, regardless of where they live.


• The 2007 Costing-out Study commissioned by the General Assembly found that the state should raise its investment in public education by $4.3 billion.


• The social and economic consequences of failing to make this investment would affect every taxpayer and resident in Pennsylvania.


• The future social and economic well-being of PA will benefit if these choices are based, not on politics, but on objective evidence about where educational investment will have the greatest return.


• This means that the state must maintain the new system for funding public education adopted in 2008, providing for adequacy, equity, accountability, predictability, and efficiency.


“You can pay me now.” or

“You can pay me later.”


pennsylvania’s best investment: the social and economic benefits of public education

Documents

purpose of public education

public schools

totalpublic education

biggest initiative

systems of public schooling

state governments

potential benefits

local sources