Posted on 08/17/2015 11:07:43 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Though "schools are underfunded" is a popular belief, per-pupil funding in Michigan has increased substantially over the past 20 years. Even so, the current state budget includes a $500,000 line item for an “adequacy study" that could lead to even more school spending. The declared purpose of the study is to determine how much taxpayers must spend for public schools to educate students sufficiently well to meet state graduation requirements, presumably with no substantive changes to the status quo system.
The study expenditure was authorized as part of a legislative deal last December to get Democratic legislators to support the Proposal 1 tax increase ballot measure, which was defeated by voters on May 5 of this year.
When all revenue sources are included, public schools in this state received $11,040 per pupil in 1995. The figure today is $12,570, or $1,530 more per student, a 13.8 percent increase even after inflation. (The figures are stated in 2014 dollars.)
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Michigan ranks near the middle of the states in per- pupil public school funding. When the state's per capita income is considered, Michigan’s K-12 spending ranks in the top ten nationally.
If the adequacy study were to determine that Michigan’s $12,570 figure is inadequate, arguably that would be the same as saying that half of the 50 states’ funding levels are inadequate also. Yet, the U.S. spends more on education than any other nation.
Looking at just the past 10 years, the school funding picture is more complex than a straight-line increase. There has been a modest 1 percent decline since 2005, due in part to a funding spike in 2003, which happened just as Michigan was entering its single state recession. This period also includes the nation's Great Recession of 2008-09 and the one-time federal spending blowout of the Obama stimulus program.
When adjusted for inflation, total K-12 revenue in 2003 was the equivalent of $13,397 per pupil in today’s dollars. Funding from all sources declined briefly, but was rising again when it reached $13,411 in 2006, and peaked at $13,770 in 2009, the year of the Obama stimulus (all figures expressed in 2014 dollars).
Just as funding has gone both up and down, so too has enrollment. Public school enrollment in the state is 4 percent below what it was in 1995. It rose for a few years after that, peaking in 2002-2003, but has fallen 11 percent since 2005. Under the foundation allowance funding system, money follows the student, which can create stress for school districts with declining enrollment. This fact may contribute to an impression among local school employees that K-12 funding has undergone a significant drop statewide, which has not been the case.
These statistics are from the Center for Education Performance and Information; Historical Form B (1995-2003) and the Financial Information Database (2004 – 2014) of the Senate Fiscal Agency.
Looking further back, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, when measured in 2014 dollars, Michigan public schools spent $5,623 per pupil in 1970, $7,991 in 1980 and $10,264 in 1990. These are not revenue figures, as are the ones above; they represent only spending amounts.
SCHOOLS are perfectly funded ... over funded, in fact (IM)
Teacher's pay and pension plans .... well ... that's a whore of a different color.
If you're white it's your fault. /s
In Buffalo NY, the school district spends about $25,000+ per student. They’ve been stuck at a 50% graduation rate for years.
As is with welfare, it’s the people, not the money. Too many disruptive students and too many troublemakers allowed to run the classrooms.
15% of local tax dollars go to Buffalo. 64% of costs come from local tax dollars in my TX district.
Public school education is anything *BUT* an education.
It is simply child abuse with a super-size helping of indoctrination.
Government worker-teachers are grossly liberal activists.
I know, I’m on the school board
Insane
We home school for well under a $1000 each. Still have to pay to send other kids to crappy schools.
I have no doubt that my kids will do well in college. My daughter just got her books for her first year. She told me that in the bookstore she saw a second year chemistry book. Then she told me she had already read half of it.
You see if you are involved with your kids they will want to learn. But some how when I was in high school I hated it and the teachers. Waste of money sending kids to teachers that for the most part don’t want to teach.
You don't hate children...do you?
;0)
$12,570 divided by 175 school days = $71.83 /student/day times 22 students per classroom comes to $1580.23 per classroom per day.
$12,570 times 22 students / classroom is $276,540 per school year.
One must conclude that Michigan students are among the best educated in the world.
Correction. The school districts receive the money - way different than the schools. Most of it goes to the administration bureaucrats, very little to the classrooms and whatever they get is not enough.
The problem is that Asian and White kids do not attend inner city public schools. Probably the only solution is vouchers.
The problem is that Asian and White kids do not attend inner city public schools. Probably the only solution is vouchers.
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