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 its 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 Taxpayers Guide to Education Spending 2019 last week. The report found that the Garden States average cost per-pupil was nearly $22,000 during the 20172018 school year. In more than a dozen districts, schools spent more than $30,000 per student.
(Excerpt) Read more at freopp.org ...
School reform and competition - the secret weapon to boost the economy. Fact is that people are paying 2x what we need to and some pay $600/month for school taxes, easily even more in NYS. Cut that in half, $300 more spent would boost the economy and promote savings.
Seattle is now spending $20,000 per year for every K-12 student, a few miles South we are spending nearly as much. I’m real dollars this is several times what was being spent on the baby boomers for much worse results. Our State Supreme Court ruled that not enough was being spent. Our property taxes personally went up 50% in three years. It has become insane.
Actually, they don't. They go to buildings, sports programs (spelled f-o-o-t-b-a-l-l), and upper administration. And, from top to bottom, there is an incredible amount of waste and misappropriation. And, when it comes to grant money, the standard saying is: "Hurry and find something to spend it on before we have to give it back!" In a county adjacent to mine, the local educational service center was tasked with managing the local Head Start program for about 40 students. They immediately took over one million dollars off the top for "administrative costs."
Would it be a generalization to claim that "educators" (as opposed to in-classroom teachers who love to teach) are liberals and very good at spending other peoples money. They shall not go wanting....and lowly teachers can fend for themselves, buy and provide supplies for students, etc.
I'm removed from the system, but this is what I read and hear.
The “For the Children” scam has no limits. If you criticize these edu-clowns, you are mean-spirited. What criminals.
In some poor WV counties he county school system is he largest employer! I have even seen some of he positions become “magically” hereditary! - Just how did Little Johnny end up in his father’s school system job?
I then point out I earned an MBA in a state university run night school (1988) for a tuition of $118 per credit hour (the equivalent of $2,124 annually) and, even factoring in inflation, the per pupil expense is well beyond that in most school districts now. Why?
Educators include both teachers and administrators. I know several public school teachers who put in long hours for modest pay because they like what they are doing. Those educators, I have no problem with. Administrators, on the other hand, suck up huge resources with little productivity in terms of educating students. Those educators, I have a huge problem with.
In almost all public schools, you could eliminate a couple of levels of administrators and you'd save a ton of money and probably have a better final product.
You could get rid of 90% of all School Administrators and not miss a beat.
Featherbedding is still a thing.
I live in a small town. My school superintendent has a personal secretary and an Assistant Superintendent. And the Assistant Superintendent has an assistant.
And the classrooms sometimes run out of paper.
bkmk
Research has long shown that school funding has little impact on school performance. But we spend endless amounts on various learning disabled subpopulations which significantly distorts these figures.
And that must go at least doubly for the modern US college.
They might also be unfairly aware that they can download many excellent public domain books from
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