Doing the math at school

Laura Brown asks, “Is Hawaii’s Government as Smart as a Fifth Grader?“ Before you answer the question yourself, consider the situation.

There’s math and there’s logic, and sometimes the two don’t fit well together. It’s something like Mark Twain’s ‘Lies, damned lies, and statistics.’

State legislators may cut per-pupil charter school funding, but it’s a lump sum cut, not a per-pupil cut. Steve Hirakami, as principal of the Hawaii Academy of Arts & Sciences went to a charter school rally at the state Capitol and demonstrated what his 5th graders knew about math.

Based on current funding, how much do charter schools have to spend per student enrolled? The students came up with about $8,000. With a new proposed budget, how much per student? The students came up with about $7,000 per student, $1,000 less, per student, than the current year.

It’s math, right? Not quite. The math used by Principal Hirakami and the students displays averages from a total, rather than actual money spent, or not spent. It’s math, but it’s not necessarily accurate.

How so? Assume that each charter school classroom has 20 students. Assume that the budget for charter school funding is cut by 10-percent. Do the schools only have enough money to teach 18 students per classroom? What would happen if the charter schools put 22 students in each classroom? All things considered, and somewhat equal, the average cost per classroom of students would be the same even after a 10-percent budget cut. See? It’s math.

Hirakami is quoted as saying, “Our legislators are choosing not to educate 1 in 8 children.” Yet, his math is as faulty as his reasoning. The state is not choosing not to educate 1 in 8 children, they’re choosing a smaller budget for charter schools. The charter schools are required to figure out how to educate the same number of children (or, a larger number, accounting for annual growth), on less money per child, not necessarily per classroom.

Put more students into a classroom and the whole problem is solved, right? Logically, yes. In reality, no. Or, at least, not quite. Either way, nothing got fixed.

Hopefully, students will learn the various nuances and shades of ‘math‘ and be able to take a different perspective when looking at the problems schools face. The solution to a problem isn’t always money. Some in the legislature have figured that out.