Some of you may have seen my latest corrections to some of the errors in data interpretation by two former mayors of Hopewell Township: Vanessa Sandom and John Hart. I am referring to their correspondence in the last issue of Hopewell Express and my response as published in MercerMe (mercerme.com/lets-base-school-funding-discussions-on-facts-not-misinterpretations.)
To summarize my main point: while the data that the former mayors present is correct, they misinterpret its meaning, leading to an erroneous conclusion that our district is wasting money on administrative overhead. The correct data, showing actual administrative overhead vs per-pupil classroom spend, is shown above.
While Hopewell Valley’s per-pupil spending is on the higher end for Mercer County, that investment overwhelmingly supports instruction and smaller class sizes—not administrative overhead. Our administrative costs are comparable to other districts, and modest relative to the resources we devote directly to students.
This is not the only mistake in the mayors’ op-ed. But my purpose here is not to rehash what I have already said. I keep returning to why their mistakes touched such a nerve in me.
I welcome an honest discussion of what our district is spending money on and whether the spending is worth it. I encourage anyone that wants to dive into the data to do so: nothing is better than a primary source. I recognize that many of you have a different opinion on the matter than I do. I welcome civil discourse done right. Scrutiny and debate of how taxpayer money is spent is always important, especially so in the difficult economic times that we are in.
But I urge everyone to base your opinions on facts and correct understanding of data. Misinformation — even when unintentional and well-meaning — is too damaging to the morale and civil fabric of our community, our teachers and our children to be simply dismissed as a mistake. When it comes from community leaders, its negative impact is that much more harmful.
In these times, with “fake news” coming at us from all directions, I see firsthand the pernicious effects that misinformation has my own kids’ well being. We simply cannot afford for this virus to infect our community discourse.
I recognize that in many cases the data is both hard to find and hard to properly interpret. Modern tools can often be tricky to use. For better or worse, after three years on Finance and Facilities committee, I’ve become quite familiar with DOE data. To facilitate an honest and civil dialog, I offer my help to anyone who is interested in making their way through the DOE data or using Excel, Google Sheets, Python, to make sure their results are presented accurately. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Alex Reznik is a member of the Hopewell Valley board of education, representing Pennington. The opinions expressed are his own.
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