Private wealth, public squalor

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith famously claimed an inverse relationship between the public good and the growth of private wealth.  Without government intervention, meaning  "massive public investment... to improve social goods in spheres where the private sector [is] unwilling to invest", the amalgamation of great private wealth inevitably results in what Galbraith called "public squalor"*. 

I can think of no better test of that thesis than the effect on public schools of Oregon's 1990 property tax limitation, Measure 5.   In its remarkable series on the disparity between the ability of rich and poor schools to field successful football teams, the Oregonian fingers Measure 5 as the culprit:

"Measure 5, the statewide property-tax cap that voters passed in 1990, slashed extracurricular spending by an inflation-adjusted average of 30 percent in 10 school districts with prominent football teams. Wealthier communities are better equipped to fill the gap, especially in the flagship sport of football... ."

Measure 5 did more than cut funds for sports.  Academic programs have been affected as well.  According to an analysis done by Oregon State University's Bruce Weber, overall funding for public education declined as Measure 5 was phased in:

"Indeed, in 1993-1994, total school operating revenues declined 5
percent because increases in state aid were not large enough to offset
declines in school property taxes. ...

"...Oregon's tax burden will shrink as Measure 5 completes its five-year phase-in, from its current level of 11.5 percent of income (placing Oregon around the middle
in a ranking of the fifty states) to its projected 10.3 percent in1996 (placing Oregon around 40th in this ranking)."

Wealthier school districts --Lake Oswego, for example, with a student poverty rate of about 4% and a median household income of over $100,000-- can afford, through foundations and other fund raising efforts, to provide first rate facilities and other amenities to help its sports programs succeed.  Portland's Benson Tech --with a poverty rate of 57%-- cannot. 

Football is simply a metaphor for the inability of schools in poor communities to provide adequate educational programs to its students.  That's what happens when people decide they can no longer afford to pay the taxes that support public education. Who suffers?

Poor kids. 

There are those who dispute the notion that public education promotes the public, or common, good.  They object to the government "monopoly" on education.  They promote school choice and charter schools.  They advocate a greater market influence in deciding how schools are run.  They argue that parents should decide which schools are fit for their children to attend.  In the end, through the magic of the marketplace, we'll be left with only strong schools. 

I'm not one of those.  I believe as a society we're obligated to nurture the least capable among us.  That's especially true in public education.  Either we provide all our children with equitable educational opportunities, or we end up with two drastically different systems --a Lake Oswego for the fortunate, a Benson for the less fortunate.

I call that a stark example of private wealth living side by side with public squalor.

* (In an interview with The Progressive, Galbraith explained his juxtaposition of "public squalor" and "private affluence" this way:

"There's no question that in my lifetime, the contrast between what I called private affluence and public squalor has become very much greater. What do we worry about? We worry about our schools. We worry about our public recreational facilities. We worry about our law enforcement and our public housing. All of the things that bear upon our standard of living are in the public sector. We don't worry about the supply of automobiles. We don't even worry about the supply of foods. Things that come from the private sector are in abundant supply; things that depend on the public sector are widely a problem. We're a world, as I said in The Affluent Society, of filthy streets and clean houses, poor schools and expensive television. I consider that contrast to be one of my most successful arguments."

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