Claire McCaskill outlines plan on education funding

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Claire McCaskill said Tuesday that school administrative spending and jobs must be cut to provide adequate money for classrooms.

McCaskill said she drew on her experience as state auditor to come up with an education plan she detailed during the opening day of classes at Penn Valley Community College.

She said school administrators should try to cut costs by considering the elimination of jobs, reduced travel expenses and centralized purchasing, among other things, which she said would shift additional funding into classrooms.

"We have gone overboard in the amount of time spent shuffling paper," McCaskill said.

McCaskill said districts with already-low administrative budgets would be rewarded with additional funding; others would be forced to shift spending away from administrative operations or face budget cuts.

The Democratic candidate faces Republican Secretary of State Matt Blunt in November. Blunt's campaign said Tuesday that reducing administrative educational costs is good, but questioned whether McCaskill could pull it off.

"She's had six years as an auditor to make recommendations about schools," said John Hancock, a spokesman for Blunt. "Claire McCaskill has a record of producing rhetoric."

Hancock said Blunt demonstrated his ability to cut costs by eliminating positions in the secretary of state's office and cutting overall expenses.

McCaskill also called for mandated competitive bidding on bonds, a change she said would save tens of millions of dollars; a uniform budgeting format across school districts; and an annual survey of teachers.

None of the proposals, McCaskill acknowledged, would be simple.

"If fixing public education were easy, it would have been done by now," she said.