[Vision2020] Column on MSD in the Daily News

[B.C. Strand]

Hello folks,

I was reading the article by Jack Wenders blasting MSD. Wenders focuses 
on the property taxes each of us pay to MSD. I've always accepted that 
the property taxes in Moscow are well above average. This seems to be 
intuitively obvious as the largest employers in Moscow pay no property 
taxes (federal government, U of I, WSU and Gritman). This shifts the tax 
burden from businesses to residential. It is one of the reasons I have 
always supported business development in Moscow - to distribute the 
taxes (and thus lower my own property taxes).

This year when I reviewed my three daughters' ISAT scores, I pleasantly 
noted the high district averages (for all their grades). But Wenders 
states that ISAT averages are not indicative of performance - it is the 
INCREASE in ISAT scores from the previous year that should be evaluated. 
Wenders states that this is the only way of eliminating the effect of 
socio-economic status. This ISAT increase (so called "value-added 
performance") should be compared to the average property taxes. To quote 
Wenders:

"Simply put, Moscow's parents and taxpayers have paid well above average 
property taxes for below-average school value-added performance."

I have to admit, I'm a bit confused by Wenders' "analysis". As a 
starting point, average ISAT should be compared against average property 
taxes - change in ISAT should be compared against change in property 
taxes. Comparing increases in ISAT to average property taxes is "apples 
and oranges". Part of that "socio-economic status" that Wenders readily 
discarded (by using the increase in ISAT instead of the average ISAT 
score) is the fact that I and my neighbors are willing to pay a bit more 
for a quality education.


I am in no position to say if MSD's budget can be shaved. However, 
Wenders has not convinced me that MSD students are underperforming. His 
choices of performance indices seem somewhat arbitrary - possibly 
selected to prove his point. When it comes time to evaluate any school 
levy in the spring, I hope there will be better analysis from which to 
decide.

Bill Strand