Of Boards and Budgets

As mentioned in my previous post, last night, February 17^th, I attended the bi-weekly meeting of our School Board and spoke on behalf of our Elementary Band program. The vote to eliminate it from last year’s budget had already been made in the previous meeting. No action was scheduled for this meeting, and none was taken. But it did give me some insight on precisely what precipitated this decision, and others.

We were informed, and reminded on numerous occasions, that the School Board is required by law to provide semi-annual reports that demonstrate the district’s financial solvency for the next three years. As many of you undoubtedly know by now, the State of California is having trouble with its own budget, and because of this, the district has to prepare this report based on what it considers to be the worst-case scenario. To add to this, any certificated employee that is going to be laid off must be given notification of this by March 15^th. That’s right, beware the Ides of March.

Ultimately, the Board had to eliminate $5.9 million from the current, 2008-09, budget. They also have $12.6 million to eliminate from next year’s budget. Those are some significant numbers, and I certainly do not envy any of the decisions that they have to make. Fortunately, there is hope that, as soon as the state budget is passed, we will have a better idea of what the actual budget figures are, as well as what additional flexibility there may be in how the district spends money (more on flexibility later). The other thing that gave me hope is that, at the end of the meeting, the School Board President went back to the Elementary Band issue, and asked to be provided with data on the correlation between music and test scores. Although the question wasn’t directed to me, I had provided much of that “testimony”, and had a copy of my remarks with links to the websites that I used to compile my evidence, so I volunteered it. As we all know, test scores are everything to districts, which is why I moved away from anecdotal evidence about the more intangible benefits of a musical education and focused on the correlation between music and academic performance, especially as it related to test scores. With all this considered, I am guardedly optimistic that, in the end, the Elementary Band program will not fall victim to the budgetary axe.

I haven’t made it a habit to attend School Board meetings, but this wasn’t my first, either. One thing that I have heard on more than one occasion is that only a small portion of the district’s budget is discretionary. The problem that I have with that is that the stuff that ends up being discretionary has a tendency to be the stuff that directly affects the classroom, whether it is teacher pay, class size, extra-curricular activities, or specialized programs. Although I have no reason to doubt what portions of the budget are discretionary and which are not, the cynic in me wonders if this isn’t part of the overall plan – that by cutting programs that people are most passionate about it makes it more likely that they will be able to pass tax increases, special levies, or other revenue increases.

Here’s an idea. Why don’t we treat all these regulations that relate to school budgets and spending more like the Code of the Brethren from Pirates of the Caribbean, “the code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” Maybe we don’t want to go all the way to guidelines, but we should have a simple way of petitioning for waiver. Better yet, the regulations should never be constraints on spending, but guidelines and requirements on the level of service to be provided. At that point, individual districts would be allowed great leeway in how they complied with these regulations.

I would like to thank everyone that sent me their stories, suggestions, sources and support. I can't tell you how much help it was, nor how much it means to me.

My Comments to the School Board in Support of Elementary Band

Following are my the remarks that I plan to make to the Jurupa Unified School District School Board in support of continued funding of a band program at the elementary school level. I may be spitting in the wind, the decision has probably already been carved into the marble that is next year's budget, but I need to say something. I would like to thank all those that have offered words of encouragement, support, and their suggestions and sources. I am certain that I could not have come up with this research without you.
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I would like to begin my remarks this evening by reminding the board of how the No Child Left Behind act defines “core curriculum.” The term ‘core curriculum’ means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. Education in the arts, education in music, is not merely an enrichment program, but instead an integral part of core curriculum. Please know that when you eliminate elementary band, you have eliminated all band for many students, some of whom would have gone on to be musicians in middle and high school. For those who remain, you have diminished the quality of their musical experience.

I asked some of my former “band buddies” what they got out of being in band, and, as expected, they related experiences that went beyond music. They talked of how it taught them that they could be both competitive and cooperative at the same time. It taught them self-reliance, discipline, and focus. Applying themselves to learning a musical instrument taught them techniques that helped them learn in other academic areas as well. Music has helped others with social skills, giving them a sense of belonging and being a part of a group. So many of the same benefits that kids get out of athletics are also garnered from being a part of a band. But whereas there are so many ways for children to experience athletics, band is the only way that many children are going to gain experiences such as these.

“The plural of anecdote is not data,” however, so let me give you some data. We are often told that musical training helps students in mathematics. As a case in point, there was a group of second grade students who were given piano lessons for four months in addition to training with some new math educational software. The students that received training in both piano and the math software scored 27% higher than those that used the math software alone. But music seems to help in all areas of learning. In a study of undergraduates applying to medical school, Lewis Thomas found that 66% of music majors were admitted, compared to only 44% of biochemistry students. Another study of 7,500 college students found that music majors scored higher in reading than any other major. Would you believe that music actually increases a child’s IQ? At least one study indicates that it does. In it, children were given lessons in either keyboard, voice, drama or no lessons at all. The students who received keyboard or voice lessons saw their IQs increase more dramatically than those who received either drama or no lessons – generally across all subtests, indices, and academic subjects. In Rhode Island, first grade classes containing students who had underachieved in kindergarten received ongoing music and visual arts training in addition to their regular curriculum. After seven months, these students had caught up with their piers in reading, and surpassed them by 22% in math. In the second year of the program they increased these gains.

Are you ready for the speed round? Children with musical training have significantly better verbal memory. A Stanford University study in 2004 showed that mastery of an instrument improves how we process spoken language. Schools that have music programs have significantly higher graduation rates (17% higher), as well as lower dropout rates. Students in high-quality music programs score higher on standardized tests – 22% higher in English and 20% higher in Math. According to the College Board, students with experience in musical performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT, and 43 points higher on the math. Those of us with a memory of Woodstock might find this next part difficult to believe, but, students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).

It would seem to me that we should not be looking into cutting any portion of our music program, we should instead be looking to expand it. When I was in elementary school, we had a music teacher visit each class at least once or twice a week. When was the last time that happened? Remember, even No Child Left Behind recognizes that education in the arts is ‘core curriculum,’ and yet we are now eliminating one of the last vestiges of music from the elementary school curriculum. Let me leave you with a thought from someone that I went to high school with – he didn’t recall the source. "You put emphasis on teaching children to read and write but if you take away the arts you leave them very little to read and write about." I don't know how much, in dollars and cents, you will save by eliminating the Elementary Bands, but I have a pretty good idea of what these kids are going to lose.

What Are You Training For?

Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:25-27

When I heard this passage today, it really took me back. Looking at me now it is probably hard to believe, but my Junior year of High School, I ran cross-country. As much as running up and down hills in the Southern California desert from August through November isn't the most pleasant thing in the world, I enjoyed it. It wasn't my best experience running, however. That would have been the previous summer, when I ran for pleasure in northern Minnesota. There was something special about running through the woods, along the lake shore, or down country roads.

The following spring, having just concluded the cross-country season, it was only natural that I would try out for the track team. I didn't last a month. I may not have lasted much more than a week or so. There was something about running around a track over and over again that drove me absolutely bonkers. I just couldn't take it - I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I am convinced that the term "running around in circles" was coined by a frustrated track athlete.

Anyway, this is where my mind went when I heard this passage this morning. For me, running around the track was aimless. There was no purpose in it. At least when I ran cross-country, I felt like I was going somewhere. When I was running in Minnesota, every step was its own mini journey - each step had its own purpose.

This is what I ultimately got out of this passage. We need purpose. Not necessarily just a purpose that we see at the end of the road. We need purpose every step of the way. It is difficult to see the end of the road, the ultimate purpose of our lives. By finding lots of little purposes along the way, we can make the entire journey have purpose, every step of the way.

Rule 157

One can argue the merits of FASB Rule 157, which institutes fair-value, or mark-to-market, accounting principals to financial institutions. On the one hand, it is probably true that accounting practices have not accurately portrayed the strength/weakness of many financial institutions. It is also possible that this change is largely responsible for the insolvency of the financial markets. What cannot be argued is that, on November 15th, 2007, Rule 157 took effect, and within a matter of 6-12 months our nation was in what President Obama has called the "our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression."

So what is it that Rule 157 changed? It changed the way that Mortgage Backed Securities are valued on the books of these financial institutions. As of the November 15th, 2007, financial institutions had to report the value of these Mortgage Backed Securities based on their value if they were to be sold right now. Is there anyone out there that is looking to sell their house right now, for any reason other than necessity? No? I didn't think so. Why not? Because home values have gone in the tank. If we were to sell now, we would be locking in our losses, and no one wants to do that.

This is the climate into which Rule 157 was introduced. At regular intervals, quarterly, I believe, Mortgage Backed Securities have to be revalued base on their value if they were to be sold on that date, regardless of whether or not, in reality, they were going to be sold on that date. We all know that there are a lot of properties that have been foreclosed on, and that this is one of the contributing factors to the precipitous decline in home values. There are also a good number of homes that people continue to make their mortgage payments on where the notes are worth more than than the homes' current value. They are "upside-down".

Here's a question for you. As long as the note is ultimately paid in full, do you think that a bank cares if the mortgage is upside-down or not? Of course not. It is only when the note is not repaid, and the collateral is seized, that it makes any difference what the value of the property is. Even then, if the bank decided to hold the property, it is entirely possible that, in time, the value of the property would increase so that it was worth more than the remaining value of the note. Rule 157 doesn't care about any of these things. Under Rule 157, every quarter, these Mortgage Backed Securities are revalued, and the institutions that hold them have to write off any of the losses against their books.

As I stated earlier, you can certainly argue that this is a better method of accounting. The problem is that it is a change in accounting practices. What business, any business, wants more than anything is stability, and this change that was instituted by Rule 157 caused instability in the marketplace. How could it not? These mortgages and Mortgage Backed Securities were issued under one set of rules, with one set of assumptions, and then those rules were changed. The value of their assets was reduced, and the value of their liabilities was increased.

But the damage didn't stop there. With fewer assets and greater liabilities, banks no longer had as much capital to do their business, and the business of a bank is to make loans. Less capital meant that banks no longer had the ability to make as many loans as they used to. The credit market started to contract. As the credit market contracted, businesses could no longer get loans for capital expenditures, which further weakened the economy. Company after company started cutting costs, reducing capital expenditures, laying off employees.

This is where we are today. The crisis has gotten into our national psyche. People that are fortunate enough to remain employed are afraid that they may not be employed tomorrow. They are reducing their spending, which only exacerbates an already weakened economy. The downward spiral continues.

Rule 157 isn't the sole cause of the current financial crisis, and I am certain that someone with more economic background could quibble with my interpretation of the sequence of events. Unfortunately, repealing or modifying Rule 157 probably would not be enough to bring us out of our downward spiral. In retrospect, however, the change in accounting practices was a blow that an already wobbly economy could not take. Whether you think that the rule was an improvement or not, the fact is that, twelve months after its institution, we are in a world of hurt.

IOU Interest

By now, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will not be receiving the tax refund that I am owed from the State of California any time soon. I will instead be receiving an IOU. It's bad enough that the state gets to borrow money from me without my permission, but to top it off, I don't expect to be paid interest on it. I want interest! And I don't mean T-Bill interest, or State Bond interest or Bank Account interest. I want Credit Card interest! 18.9%! It is one thing to get a lower interest rate when you choose to put your money in that investment, but when someone, in this case the state, is able to borrow money from you without your permission, the lender should be entitled to the maximum interest rate allowed by law.

Money Transfers

I'm just wondering, how much does it cost for a county to collect taxes, send them to the state, and wait for the state to send money back to the county. I would think that there would be some savings in the county holding back the money that it would normally get from the state, and only sending the state the difference. It may not be a big savings, but a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon we're talking about real money.

Knowledge Puffs

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. - 1 Corinthians 8:1

I don't remember hearing this verse before. Maybe it is a different translation (New Revised Standard Version) than I have heard before. Regardless, there is a sort of simple elegance to it. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

I can really see how it is that knowledge puffs up. Knowledge is something that we can earn on our own. Study, apply yourself, and you can obtain knowledge. Because we earn our knowledge, it gives us a certain sense of self importance. So many of us take great pride in how much we know, but outside of how much it might help us in our careers, what good is it? This is especially true if it leads to pride. Think about it, unless your name is Ken Jennings (the guy that won $1.5 million on Jeopardy), how many of us are going to be remembered for how much we know?

Love is different. I don't know that it is possible to make yourself love more. Where knowledge is all about ourselves, love is all about other people. That's where so much of the building up takes place. When you love, you build up other people, and they in turn build you up.

Both puffing and building will cause something to grow in size. When I think of something being puffed up, I immediately think of a balloon. A balloon inflates, it expands, but it is full of nothing but hot air. All it takes is a pin prick, and it is gone. Building something, on the other hand, takes time and effort. It grows slowly. But it is solid. A structure that is built well, on a firm foundation, can withstand quite a bit of force, and it can last. How long have the pyramids or the Great Wall of China been standing?

This verse was part of one of the readings in church this past Sunday (Feb 1), and, in a case of the Lord working in mysterious ways (OK maybe not really mysterious), I was able to work it into the lesson that I had for my 7^th grade confirmation class. The theme of confirmation for the 7^th graders is church history, and this week we were discussing the Counter Reformation, the 30 Years War, and the Inquisition. Pleasant stuff, huh? Earlier, the kids were so glad when we were through with the persecutions that the early church faced, and I could tell that they were disheartened to see so many of the same things happening again, only this time it was Christians doing it to other Christians. I pointed out to them that what we were talking about may have happened in the 1500s, but we aren't far removed from people writing books explaining what to do if your child married a Catholic. We talked about the difference between something being puffed up and built up, about how love emanates from God, but knowledge emanates from man. And then we talked about how it was knowledge, or at least what people believed to be knowledge, was at the root of much of what we were discussing. Wars were fought because one group thought that the knew better than everybody else. The inquisition was based greatly on the premise of I'm right, you're wrong.

There is one final point that I would like to make. Knowledge stands alone. Love stands with others. Like the old adage says, "United we stand, divided we fall." When we base our lives on knowledge, we are standing alone, and easily toppled. When we base our lives on love, by its nature, we are building up others, and they are in turn building us up. When tough times come, we have others to lean on, and that makes us all stronger. Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. On which foundation will you base your life?