In Blog Series, Bruce Baker Explores Issues at the Intersection of Money and Reform | janresseger

In Blog Series, Bruce Baker Explores Issues at the Intersection of Money and Reform | janresseger:

In Blog Series, Bruce Baker Explores Issues at the Intersection of Money and Reform

Bruce Baker, professor of education finance and education policy and law at Rutgers University, is also the author if the Education Law Center’s annual review of school funding adequacy and equity across the states: Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card. In his blog, School Finance 101, Baker explores issues of school funding fairness as well as other matters he is investigating for academic research.  At the end of October to launch a connected series of posts, At the Intersection of Money and Reform, he declared, “At times, this blog serves as a palette for testing/sharing ideas.  So… in this, and a rapid fire sequence of follow-up posts, I will share some excerpts of forthcoming, and early stage, in-progess work.”  What makes this series  so interesting is not only Baker’s summary of the history of the current state of school policy but also his dive into the research literature.

In the first post, Baker deftly discounts the often repeated myth that paying teachers based on their earning masters’ and doctors’ degrees and based on their years of experience fails to improve their students’ education and is, therefore, a waste of money. Reviewing the research literature, he concludes:  “To summarize, despite all the uproar about paying teachers based on experience and education… this line of argument misses the point… (T)he average salaries of the teaching profession, with respect to other labor market opportunities, can substantively affect the quality of entrants to the teaching profession, applicants to preparation programs, and student outcomes.  Diminishing resources for schools can constrain salaries and reduce the quality of the labor supply.  Further, salary differentials between schools and districts might help to recruit or retain teachers in high need settings.  In other words, resources used for teacher quality matter.”

Baker’s recent series then moves to several posts that explore primary policy concerns about the charter sector.  He begins Part II with a serious investigation of the idea that charter schools are more efficient: “The core assumption is that charter schooling improves efficiency because the flexibility afforded through chartering permits charter schools to engage in more creative teacher compensation strategies and technological substitution, such as trading small In Blog Series, Bruce Baker Explores Issues at the Intersection of Money and Reform | janresseger: