Kirkwood School District and Washington DC School Council Have a Common Thread: Education Equity

 We wrote about Washington DC's idea about mandating and paying for all students to take the ACT/SAT and apply for college:


Mandates are in the works for universal preschool and the Washington DC council may be taking the first stab at mandating mandatory post-secondary education.  A bill has been introduced that will mandate that everyone apply to at least one post-secondary institution and take either the SAT or ACT. It apparently doesn't matter if the individual doesn't want to attend a post-secondary institution, he/she will be compelled to apply to a college, trade, seminary or vocational program.  


Kirkwood (Missouri) School District administrators believe in education equity for all students even if they can pay for half-day kindergarten or ACT testing. 

The Kirkwood Patch reported Kirkwood School District's administration wants to offer the ACT test to all junior beginning next year at the cost to the district of $17,000.  Principal Mike Havener wants every junior to take the test for "free", which is somewhat disingenuous as the district will pick up the cost. Why does the district want to provide the test to all students, regardless of their ability to pay?  It is evident the vast majority of students have found a way to pay for the test in past years:

“My goal is to provide opportunities for all of our students to be successful,” Havener said. “We are telling our students that we are preparing them for college – we need to back that up.”


Many Kirkwood students already take the ACT and some take it multiple times, but Havener said that as many as 20 to 30 percent of students don’t take the test at all, for a variety of reasons, including cost.

“This would give all the students at least one opportunity to take it for free,” Havener said.
He said he hoped it would inspire some students to go on to college who might not otherwise have considered it. It also might give students confidence that they could score better on a subsequent test, he said.

Kirkwood is not a high poverty area in Missouri.  Here is  2010 Census information from Wikipedia:

As of the census of 2010, there were 27,324 people, 11,894 households, and 10,276 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,993.5 people per square mile. There were 12,895 housing units at an average density of 1,333.7 per square mile (514.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.4% White (88.2% Non-Hispanic White), 7.0% African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.4% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population.


The median income for a household in the city was $70,261, and the median income for a family was $89,219. Males had a median income of $51,515 versus $36,235 for females. The per capita income for the city was $32,012. About 2.8% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.


Why would the school administration with an area poverty level of 6.1% of those under age 18 living in Kirkwood offer to provide ACT testing for ALL high school juniors at an additional cost of $17,000 to the taxpayers?  The district has just implemented "free" all day kindergarten (half day was paid for and mandated, full day was not funded nor mandated) for ALL residents, regardless if they were above that 6.1% poverty level.  This will cost the district $850,000 to implement the program with continuing costs every year. The superintendent explained in an informational meeting with citizens this was an issue of "educational equity".  Regardless if a family could pay the way for their child to attend kindergarten, it was incumbent on the taxpayers to foot the bill for this unmandated program.  I suppose "educational equity" for kindergartners should be expanded to "educational equity" for high school juniors.  Has the district considered:

• Not all students WANT to go to college. 
• Not all students SHOULD go to college.  
• Not all students ARE READY to go to college. 

Why should the taxpayers foot yet another wealth redistribution program for students whose parents can well afford the $34.00 for the test?  Why should the taxpayers pay for a test some students have no desire to take?
  

If the administration wants ALL students to take the test and it is a financial problem for some students, then maybe the PTOs or the Kirkwood Foundation (a private fund raising group supported by citizens in the district), could raise funding for those students  unable to afford the test.  To burden taxpayers with a cost for test taking because it is "educational equity" is poor financial planning especially as the tax base is shrinking.    Kirkwood School District funding: 

• 92.60% local, county and Prop C monies
• 5.10% state funds 
• 2.30% Federal funds

 KSD relies heavily on local taxes for its operating budget.  The school spends $12,200 per student, well above the average Missouri per pupil expenditure of $9,619.13. If the district is determined to provide this test for all high school juniors, it could review its expenditures in education and see if it can eke out $34.00 per pupil from this $12,200 per pupil yearly figure to accomplish its goal.


If this plan goes to the School Board for a vote, the voters must ask the existing School Board members and the candidates running for election in April their thoughts on this proposed expenditure.  The voters should also ask this administration if applications to colleges (as in Washington DC) should be considered "education equity" as well and if that's the next "free" offer from Kirkwood School District.