Posted on 08/22/2019 7:48:13 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds
The American public once again views “inadequate funding” as the top problem facing public schools, according to the annual PDK Poll. But the public will soon know exactly how much every public school actually spends, thanks to new federal reporting requirements. This leap forward in school finance transparency may forever change how Americans think about public education. The PDK poll has provided a barometer of public perceptions of public schooling since 1969. The latest survey confirms the public still believes schools have too little money. This view is shared across socioeconomic communities: “[A]among the best-off Americans, those in $100,000-plus households, 54% see their schools as underfunded,” PDK reports. “But that rises to 64% of those with incomes less than $50,000.” The poll findings raise a question: what do most Americans know about what we are spending on our public schools? Average per-student spending in American public schools is about $13,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But it’s evident many Americans falsely believe we spend much less. A 2018 survey by EdChoice, a non-profit that advocates for expanded parental choice in education, found that many Americans grossly underestimate public school spending. Fifty-five percent of survey respondents believed that “the U.S. spends $5,000 or less per student,” while 78 percent estimated per-student funding was $10,000 or less. Hopefully, Americans’ understanding of public schools’ spending is about to change. All states are required to report school-specific spending data by 2020 under the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act law.... Some states are already reporting school-by-school spending. For example, New Jersey released its “Taxpayer’s Guide to Education Spending 2019” last week. The report found that the Garden State’s average cost per-pupil was nearly $22,000 during the 2017–2018 school year. In more than a dozen districts, schools spent more than $30,000 per student.
(Excerpt) Read more at freopp.org ...
Doesn't sound like schools are generally underfunded.
the classroom may be underfunded, but the middle and upper management is doing very well. good teachers need to be rewarded with bonuses... and bad teachers need to be let go.
My mother taught school for over 30 years and she always said you could go through the admin building and fire half the people in there and no one at the classroom level would ever know the difference
Schools are awash in money. Just visit any school district’s offices. Once the educrats are done skimming their swag off there is little left for the students. Generally the total salary amount for administrators is more than for teachers.
what are the definitions of good and bad?
I have noticed with my privileged friends kids, who unfairly spend time with their children, most of their kids can read quite well long before kindergarten, and generally do reading and math several grade levels above their age. But their parents can unfairly afford to buy childrens books at the dollar store
And the union "dues" keep rolling in.
Educators are controlled by administrators that insure the funds are properly dispensed to those in the educational establishment that will ensure the existence of the status quo.
Educators are the scourge of education.
I heard that the public schools of Washington, DC have among the highest per capita spending of any school system in the country. Yet the DC schools unfortunately have among the worst educational achievement of the students.
It seems that, #1, the schools are not really “underfunded” in spite of what some people say, and #2, the money spent is a poor indicator of the actual student achievement.
I wonder if this data will show how much is being spent on federally
mandated expenses like transporting a student to his previous school every day by taxi if his parent becomes “homeless.” Homeless could mean temporarily living in a shelter or it could mean living with your Aunt in a different county. This is a multi-million dollar expense for many jurisdictions.
Where does all the Lottery $$$ go? I’d love to see a spreadsheet. I thought it was supposed to go to our schools.
Near the end of the fiscal year one year, that had money, not yet spent. Principal was a "spend it or lose it" mentality.
She spent it on a $16,000 printer big enough to print banner sized posters.
The only thing they used it for was "happy Birthday" type banners.
Retired from this system in complete disgust. Every campus has rooms FULL of paper, office supplies, scented markers. Probably 7 years worth of supplies. Bought in desperation at end of year just to spend funds before they lose the funds. All of it was federal funds. You can only spend in appropriate areas. Otherwise, it would disappear more foolishly, if you can imagine. Zero zero zero accountability
Abolish High Schools and make college tuition free. Save the taxpayers some money.
... and kids have to have bake sales to buy pencils?
What is wrong with this picture?
As a side note to school spending, please consider the following from related threads.
Patriots are reminded that states have never expressly constitutionally given the federal government the specific power to make policy, regulate, tax and spend for INTRAstate schooling.
For example, consider that President Thomas Jefferson had clarified in a State of the Union address that the states would first need to appropriately amend the Constitution before Congress could stick its big nose into public schooling (my wording), something that the states have never done.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States."Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]." —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Justice Joseph Story had reflected on Jefferson’s statement as it pertains to education by noting the following.
"The power to regulate manufactures, not having been confided to congress, they have no more right to act upon it, than they have to interfere with the systems of education, the poor laws, or the road laws, of the states [emphases added]. Congress is empowered to lay taxes for revenue, it is true; but there is no power to encourage, protect, or meddle with manufactures." —Joseph Story, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1, Commentaries on the Constitution 2
The states need to wake up and eliminate the unconstitutional middleman, the post-17th Amendment ratification, unconstitutionally big federal government, from “helping” the states to manage their revenues for intrastate schooling.
In fact, so-called “federal” funding for public schools is arguably state revenues stolen by means of unconstitutional federal taxes according to the Gibbons v. Ogden opinion.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States."Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
Remember in November 2020!
MAGA! Now KAG! (Keep America Great!)
My teacher neighbors have the same lifestyle as my investment banker neighbors (second home in Florida, expensive upgrades to current homes, fancy vacations).
How much more do you want to reward them?
Good luck identifying the “good teachers”. I would bet a month’s income that if bonuses were made available to teachers the ones to actually get the bonuses would be the union organizers.
School system spend more on admin than classrooms, books, and teacher salaries.
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