Myth: Schools don't have enough money

2006 John Stossel ^ | John Stossel

[Millee]

"Stossel is an idiot who should be fired from ABC and sent back to elementary school to learn journalism." "Stossel is a right-wing extremist ideologue."

The hate mail is coming in to ABC over a TV special I did Friday (1/13). I suggested that public schools had plenty of money but were squandering it, because that's what government monopolies do.

Many such comments came in after the National Education Association (NEA) informed its members about the special and claimed that I have a "documented history of blatant antagonism toward public schools." "Stossel is an idiot who should be fired from ABC and sent back to elementary school to learn journalism." "Stossel is a right-wing extremist ideologue."

Not enough money for education? It's a myth.

The truth is, public schools are rolling in money. If you divide the U.S. Department of Education's figure for total spending on K-12 education by the department's count of K-12 students, it works out to about $10,000 per student.

Think about that! For a class of 25 kids, that's $250,000 per classroom. This doesn't include capital costs. Couldn't you do much better than government schools with $250,000? You could hire several good teachers; I doubt you'd hire many bureaucrats. Government schools, like most monopolies, squander money.

America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.

In 1985, some of them got their wish. Kansas City, Mo., judge Russell Clark said the city's predominately black schools were not "halfway decent," and he ordered the government to spend billions more. Did the billions improve test scores? Did they hire better teachers, provide better books? Did the students learn anything?

Well, they learned how to waste lots of money.

The bureaucrats renovated school buildings, adding enormous gyms, an Olympic swimming pool, a robotics lab, TV studios, a zoo, a planetarium, and a wildlife sanctuary. They added intense instruction in foreign languages. They spent so much money that when they decided to bring more white kids to the city's schools, they didn't have to resort to busing. Instead, they paid for 120 taxis. Taxis!

What did spending billions more accomplish? The schools got worse. In 2000, five years and $2 billion later, the Kansas City school district failed 11 performance standards and lost its academic accreditation for the first time in the district's history.

A study by two professors at the Hoover Institution a few years ago compared public and Catholic schools in three of New York City's five boroughs. Parochial education outperformed the nation's largest school system "in every instance," they found -- and it did it at less than half the cost per student.

"Everyone has been conned -- you can give public schools all the money in America, and it will not be enough," says Ben Chavis, a former public school principal who now runs the American Indian Charter School in Oakland, Calif. His school spends thousands less per student than Oakland's government-run schools spend.

Chavis saves money by having students help clean the grounds and set up for lunch. "We don't have a full-time janitor," he told me. "We don't have security guards. We don't have computers. We don't have a cafeteria staff." Since Chavis took over four years ago, his school has gone from being among the worst middle schools in Oakland to the one where the kids get the best test scores. "I see my school as a business," he said. "And my students are the shareholders. And the families are the shareholders. I have to provide them with something."

[metmom]

Gee, wouldn't you like $90,000 a year to educate all those kids? Good for you.

[mnehring]

Stossel is exactly correct.. Public schools spend 10X + what a private school does, and yet fall behind in every categroy except sports. The NEA and their State counterparts have always called for more funding- always receiving it. Remember the definition of insanity.

[metmom]

It's more than my husband makes working ALL YEAR LONG as an engineer. Sheesh with all the time off that school teachers get in addition ot summer vacation, it comes out to more than an $82,000 pay rate.

[Ford4000]

By law, these children are legally obligated to an education.

Pardon me for being cynical but the law in this case is the unions' way of removing the real decisions from elected school boards and putting it into the courts where lawyers steer enormous amounts of money to these alternative programs staffed by union members.

IMHO, public sector unions are the enemy of good government.

[UCANSEE2]

UNIONS for Teachers? Seems like a good idea if their rights are being denied.

But, what is the real purpose?

To create a single voting block (like blacks) and to suck the money meant to teach children into the coffers of the DNC.

Teachers union dues go directly to the coffers of the DNC.

Teachers are now more concerned with their rights, and how the children they teach should tell their parents to vote, than in what the children learn.

I clarify this with adding "MOST teachers".

[UCANSEE2]

UNIONS for Teachers? Seems like a good idea if their rights are being denied.

But, what is the real purpose?

To create a single voting block (like blacks) and to suck the money meant to teach children into the coffers of the DNC.

Teachers union dues go directly to the coffers of the DNC.

Teachers are now more concerned with their rights, and how the children they teach should tell their parents to vote, than in what the children learn.

I clarify this with adding "MOST teachers".

[Wristpin]

The problem is zero accountability despite dismal results.

Stossal quoted a statistic that out of 80,000 teachers, only 2 had been fired.

[RobbyS]

It is also because the schools keep looking for the "silver bullet." When somes one does comes up with a solution, the "answer" is taken up uncritically, as if the "business model" did not depend intimately on good execution, of continuous readjustment to changing conditions. It is as if Microsoft, after securing a huge market, went to congress for funding to secure its market and succeeded.

But it goes beyond this. Business throws big bucks at CEOs and they still fail. These guys may be golden parachutes but everyone acknowledges that they have failed. The school system give big bucks to superintendents and they always fail. That's because they are really just politicians who have limited power to change anything.

[Calpernia]

Nothing spent on the children or supplies.

Public Schools is an arm of pay to play contracts and BOE's high salaries.

I don't know about other areas; but in my area they even higher kids right out of school. They can get away with not paying as much in salary.

[B Knotts]

What Stossel neglected to even mention was the high cost of educating the special education students.

Not this tired old argument! It gets trotted out every time.

Lars Larson "ran the numbers" on this, and special education accounts for maybe $1000/student on the overall average. It doesn't even begin to explain the difference between private and public school expense.

[BRITinUSA]

Two words: School Vouchers.

If we can get rid of the so called endorsement of religion clause that has been inserted into this debate by the Supreme Court then we can get school vouchers.

Stossel is right, the only way to fix this problem is competition. The money should follow the child. If they give a $10,000 voucher to every child so that their parents can spend that money on whatever school (including home schooling) they want then everyone will benefit. Except the teacher's unions of course.

[Balding_Eagle]

Does $82,000 include her health plan (worth $5,000 to $10,000 per year) and her 'to die for' retirement plan?

Her retirement plan is big, fat, and happy, with a generous guaranteed payout at the end. You know that you and your neighbor contribute $1 to her retirement for every $1 she puts in, don't you? PLUS she gets to CHOOSE from a line of excellent investments where to invest that money. Then, she probably has an optional 401k plan to invest in, and YOU add money to that one too in most instances.

The retirement plan is worth another $10,000 per year.

So, you teacher friend is making $90,000 to $100,000 per year. AND I'll bet serious money she complains about having to 'buy all those supplies' for the kids out of her measily allowance.

Fortunately, for that teachers pittance, they aren't required to teach the kids to read.

Can you imagine what they would want if they actually did something productive instead of ruining kids lives?

[Sisku Hanne]

Teachers union dues go directly to the coffers of the DNC. ..and a motley assortment of leftist and gay activist organizations. To the tune of $65 million a year.

Someone please explain me why anyone whose salary is paid by the taxpayers should even be able to join a union?

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Can you explain this statement:

"Stossel made a right ass of himself by ignoring this fact and comparing our kids one-on-one to Belgian children."

Stossel made several good points, including one that money in and of itself does not guarantee success in education. Catholic schools in the USA generally education children at a very high level on less than half the cost per pupil than public school. I doubt if the cost of special education is the sole factor in that comparison. I know of special education kids that attend Catholic schools. Also, I know several school teachers that complain of their inability to discipline disruptive students (particularly from Middle School on up), and the general dumbing down of education. I am told that kids than can get AP courses in HS seem to do pretty well, except for cases where there are not enough qualified teachers for courses like Physics or Chemistry.

It does make sense to compare the results of our public education to other countries. Can you assume that Belgium does not spend resources on special education. Also,I lived in Germany for four years, and several Americans with young children put their kids in the German schools rather than the fairly good DoD Schools because the German system was so good.

[RobbyS]

It is not quite that simple. Teachers work on contract. Many contracts are not renewed before the teacher reaches tenure. About half of beginning teachers will be gone by the end of five years. Even tenure laws are that THAT restrictive. The basic problem is the one that plagues all government bureaucracies: a maze of procedures and an excess of managers who are unwilling to work hard enough to find their wave through the maze. Even the efficient supervisor finds himself ending an inordinate amount time fighting with employees and tryying to do his mission. More often one just tries to route around indolent and incapable employees, like a farmer plowing around stumps.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

"I see my school as a business," he said. "And my students are the shareholders. And the families are the shareholders. I have to provide them with something."

Until all school principals see their schools this way, things ain't gonna change.

[Calpernia]

Some interesting stuff here if you want to copy to your homeschool newsletter list.

[Wristpin]

So what is the solution?

[ClaireSolt]

There is a lot of entrepreneurial activity going on by 40 companies taking over failing schools. The big city school districts are unmanageable, and anything that breaks them up and gets things back to teachers and parents and kids working together in neighborhoods is a move in the right direction. Conversely, suburban schools work out just fine for most.

[Buggman]

Ping for later reference.