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First graders Calvin Brooks, 6, left, and Noah Haggitt ,7, work quietly during class at Liberty Elementary School. BETH SCHLANKER/PD
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Liberty School District, in a rural area near Petaluma, spends about $8,000 a year per student, about $450 less than the statewide average, yet posted the top academic performance score last year in Sonoma County.
Districts that spent up to twice as much per student failed to match Liberty’s score, and some fell in the bottom fourth among 37 county school districts.
“It isn’t about how much money you have. It’s about what you’re doing with the money,” Liberty Superintendent Chris Rafanelli said.
Community involvement is a big part of Liberty’s success, he said, noting parents of new students are told: “You haven’t enrolled your child, you’ve enrolled your family.”
Liberty also has an aide in every classroom, summer school and tutoring before and after school, Rafanelli said.
County schools chief Steve Herrington said he agrees the investigative journalism organization California Watch’s findings, based on statistics from more than 900 school districts statewide, that there is scant correlation between per-pupil spending and test scores.
Money plays a major role in academic achievement at California public schools, Herrington and other educators said, but it’s household income rather than school district revenue that boosts test scores.
“The greatest predictor of API score anywhere in the United States is family income,” said Carlos Ayala, interim dean of Sonoma State University’s School of Education.
Affluent parents are more disposed to “get the kids ready for school” and to help with their ongoing studies, he said.
Ayala and his California State University colleagues are searching statewide for high-performing schools in low-income areas, describing them as “schools that are bucking the trend.”
Fewer than one-fourth (23 percent) of Liberty’s 200 students in kindergarten to eighth grade are enrolled in the subsidized meals program available to students from low-income households, well below the countywide rate of 42 percent.
Only two of the top 10 Academic Performance Index score districts — Monte Rio (73 percent meal program enrollment) and Two Rock (55 percent) exceed the county rate.
Conversely, seven of the 10 districts with the lowest test scores have high rates of enrollment, including three — Bellevue, Horicon and Cinnabar — with more than 70 percent of students taking part in the meals program.
Tiny Horicon School District, serving rural Annapolis, is the top spender at more than $20,000 a student but has the lowest API score, 676, in the county.
Horicon officials could not be reached for comment.
One significant exception is the Monte Rio Union School District, which serves an economically depressed community, as evidenced by the nearly three-quarters of its student body in the subsidized meals program. Yet, Monte Rio posted an 872 API score last year, seventh best in the county.
“We are an anomaly,” Monte Rio Superintendent-Principal Jennifer Schwinn said.
The one-school district with 95 K-to-8 students has boosted its API score by 100 points in the past four years, a trend Schwinn attributed to small classes of 20 or fewer students, and an arts program that teaches abstract thinking, a skill that applies to algebra.
Students from low-income homes typically have several disadvantages, including poor nutrition and the lack of an at-home parent to read with the child, Schwinn said.
Monte Rio spent $14,280 a child last school year, the fourth highest amount among 37 districts. It is one of the county’s 10 basic aid districts, which draw their revenue from the district property tax base rather than state funding based on enrollment.
The emergence of basic aid districts has created an uneven financial playing field for public schools. Some collect thousands more per student than so-called revenue limit districts, which have lost 30 percent of their revenue since 2007, Herrington said.
Basic aid districts, such as Alexander Valley, Geyserville and Kenwood, enjoy far more revenue.
“It’s not a fair system,” Herrington said.
News researcher Janet Bailicki contributed to this report.
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Top 10 Sonoma County school districts by test score
Liberty
API score: 913
Expenditure per student: $7,990
*Rank in spending: 26
Waugh
API score: 903
Expenditure per student: $7,600
*Rank in spending: 31
Alexander Valley
API score: 894
Expenditure per student: $11,640
*Rank in spending: 7
Bennett Valley
API score: 883
Expenditure per student: $6,908
*Rank in spending: 36
Wilmar
API score: 876
Expenditure per student: $8,293
*Rank in spending: 22
Rincon Valley
API score: 873
Expenditure per student: $7,913
*Rank in spending: 27
Monte Rio
API score: 872
Expenditure per student: $14,280
*Rank in spending: 4
Kenwood
API score: 871
Expenditure per student: $13,248
*Rank in spending: 5
Gravenstein
API score: 870
Expenditure per student: $6,479
*Rank in spending: 37
Two Rock
API score: 866
Expenditure per student: $10,406
*Rank in spending: 9
* Out of 37 Sonoma County school districts
Top 10 Sonoma County school districts by spending per district
Horicon
Expenditure per student: $20,136
API: 676
*Rank in API: 37
Fort Ross
Expenditure per student: $17,123
API: 767
*Rank in API: 30
Montgomery
Expenditure per student: $16,539
API: 844
*Rank in API: 14
Monte Rio
Expenditure per student: $14,280
API: 872
*Rank in API: 7
Kenwood
Expenditure per student: $13,248
API: 871
*Rank in API: 8
Geyserville
Expenditure per student: $12,459
API: 776
*Rank in API: 27
Alexander Valley
Expenditure per student: $11,640
API: 894
*Rank in API: 3
Harmony
Expenditure per student: $11,353
API: 863
*Rank in API: 11
Two Rock
Expenditure per student: $10,406
API: 866
*Rank in API: 10
Roseland
Expenditure per student: $10,059
API: 779
*Rank in API: 25
* Out of 37 Sonoma County school districts
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I guess we should congratulate the PD for pointing out the obvious: more money does not guarantee better education, despite an education lobby that insists otherwise.
Culture matters. Cultures that revere education, obey the law, work hard–all those out-of-fashion American virtues–succeed in the U.S. Those that don’t, don’t . . . and blame it on something and someone else, usually “racism” and “miserly” taxpayers.
Will this finally bury the lie Govt. educators endlessly flog, that all our schools need is lots more money?
I doubt it, but we can use this story to smack some reality into the conversation.
None of these stories will mean squat to the kids and parents cheated out of their taxes and their dreams until we end Govt. education once and for all.
That sweet day is coming!
Kristin, how dare you suggest such blasphemy?!! You better hope the CTA doesn’t know where you live…
Well done, Liberty District and Mr. Rafanelli! Also bravo to Waugh District. Indeed, the amount of money spent per student is not indicative of performance. Other local schools systems should take some lessons from these two.