Posted on 03/08/2010 8:08:29 AM PST by reaganaut1
While government leaders attempt to tackle budget deficits that are ballooning to historic proportions, 55% of Americans say the government does not spend enough money on public education.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 20% think the government spends too much on public education, while another 21% say the amount it spends is about right.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Democrats and 55% of voters not affiliated with either party say the government does not spend enough, a view shared by just 42% of Republicans.
Among all voters, 45% believe it is more important for the government to aid low-income students than to help the best and brightest pupils, up four points from a survey last May. Twenty-six percent (26%) see helping the best and brightest students as more important. Twenty-nine percent (29%) more are not sure.
Most Democrats (63%) and a plurality (46%) of unaffiliated voters see aiding low-income students as the priority. Republicans are more narrowly divided: 41% say helping the best and brightest is more important, while 26% think the emphasis should be on low-income students.
Married voters are closely divided on the question, too.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of all voters say they have been following recent news reports about proposed cuts in public education funding due to state budget problems.
Last August, only 17% of Americans believed teachers should be asked to take furloughs or pay cuts to help deal with the budget crises that are facing many school systems nationwide.
President Obama has said U.S. children need to spend more time in school to make them more competitive with students from other countries, and 49% of Americans think the president is right. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disagree.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Thanks for the information. :)
ironically proving that actually they’ve spent far too much
Well, the 55% that think we need to spend more to get better results need to check out NJ. The poorest districts (read that as Black and Hispanic) get more than $23,000 per student and have for some years under a court ruling. The best performing schools get less than half of that amount. The net result of the massive spending is the worst performing schools continue to spiral downward with ever lower graduation rates and lower test scores.
If money could fix the problem, it would be fixed already.
Unfortunately, I believe this poll.
If someone could show a correlation between money spent on education and the results of said education, I might agree. But, from what I can tell, as overall spending goes up, results go down.
Maybe we need to go back single-room schools and schoolmarms.
Disclaimer:
55% of the public couldn’t find their ass with both hands.
The problem is most people don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.
I have deep respect for teachers, especially in the public schools. With all the rules and regulations that make discipline almost impossible, I admire anyone that wants to teach. I used to be a teacher myself many years ago. No matter how much money the government wastes on public education, it will not improve the education. The success of a student has more to do with his family and friends than anything the school does. There are too many single parent homes. I wish that the lack of money is the answer. At least we could fix it, but you cannot fix dysfunctional families.
You’re right about school superintendents. They are unbelievably overpaid. The dirty little secret about principals and superintendents is that many of them were below average teachers. Most of them were friends with the right people and were known to be average teachers at best. Actually, being a good teacher is a hindrance to getting an administrative position because the higher-ups want them to stay in the classroom. The better teachers are also less likely to kiss the behinds of their superiors.
It isn’t about spending more but about spending smarter. For instance my local high school laid off teachers this year but found money to put 50 inch flat screen TVs, fancy smart boards, and little clickers for instant polls in every classroom. I can’t imagine that going from the old CRT TV to an HD TV has done a thing to make kids learn better. People learned just fine in the day of the blackboard.
We also waste a ton of time and money with politically correct crap. Stop all of the diversity seminars and activities. Close the clubs that drain a lot of money.
This is the peter principle. Happens everywhere. The worst people at any position with an aptitude elsewhere tend to get promoted.
“We spend plenty on public education, but much of it is wasted in paying for all the administrators. A friend of mine who teaches forensic accounting looked at our local school budget and estimated that at last 40% of the budget went to administrative costs.”
A good point. My state of North Carolina has 115 school districts for 100 counties. Thats a lot of worthless office staff. Those folks have tended to survive the crisis while teaching positions have been cut. Teachers I know also complain about the sheer number of useless seminars conducted by these office folks that they have to go to.
The NC Education Lottery is a joke. Most of it really didn’t go to the schools. Sure technically the money did but they just cut that money from other appropriations so the schools ended up with essentially no net gain.
“Parents today see the public schools as free day care centers. They LIKE the free day care, so they feel more money should be spent to protect it. “
I think we should make it harder to graduate high school. In the old days a lot fewer people finished. Now its considered a right but a kid can graduate without the skills a degree is supposed to demonstrate. Toughen it up.
All this shows is that the overwhelming majority of Americans would agree that the government spends too much in the abstract. But once you get to specific programs, be it NASA or education or defense or transportation or what have you, then you’ll find most people are in favor of current or increased spending.
“The success of a student has more to do with his family and friends than anything the school does.”
I agree. In most cases success does start at home. It starts with two parent families who have time to be with the kids, who read to them from an early age, who make them do homework, who do things like take them to enriching opportunities like museums, and who carefully watch what the kid is doing. Sure there are many success stories of kids from crap homes who turn themselves into productive adults but good parenting really gives your kid a better chance.
At the federal level? Four-tenths of one percent - $45.7 billion out of a forecast GDP of $13,271 billion.
Make that 3/10th of one percent.
How much would be “enough”?
$168K a year per classroom isn’t enough? Are you yankin’ me?
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