Posted on 09/30/2022 12:31:49 PM PDT by grundle
Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. increase spending as enrollment and scores dwindle
More than a year after the COVID-19 lockdowns, several major metropolitan school districts across the country are reporting record-level spending per student while enrollment dwindles. New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles have increased per student budget expenses in the last five years while academic outcomes have fallen considerably.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) now spends over $29,000 per student, compared to $17,800 per student in 2020. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, CPS enrollment has decreased by 8.9% since 2020, with the Chicago Sun-Times projecting an additional 2.8% decrease in 2023.
CPS performance has declined as well, according to the 2021 Illinois Report Card. Only 26% of juniors could read or practice math at grade-level. According to a report by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner from Wirepoints, only 11% of Black students and 17% of Hispanic students were reading on grade level in 2021.
New York City public schools (NYC) is in a similar situation. NYC spent $30,772 per student in 2020, with enrollment declining 9.5% since 2020. According to the New York State Education Department, only 44% of students were proficient in reading in 2019. While the NYC Department of Education maintains that scores rose in 2021, only 21.6% of students were tested at all during the pandemic.
Washington D.C. spent $30,115 per student in 2020, with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announcing an increase in spending by about $200 million in February, estimating an increase of $690 per student. While enrollment has declined in D.C. public schools by 2% since 2021, this is in sharp contrast to the trending increase during the aughts. For D.C. students, only 31% of students were at grade level in reading, and 22% in math.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted in 2021 to increase their per student spending to over $24,000, a more than $8,000 increase over five years. LAUSD enrollment has declined 8% in the past two years. The district has lost 58% of its students since the 2000s. Only 41.7% of LAUSD students were reading at grade level, while only 28.5% were on grade level in math.
The national average for public K-12 education spending per student in 2018-19 was $13,187. In 2020, the amount rose to $13,494. Chicago Public Schools, the New York City Department of Education, and the Los Angeles Unified School District more than double the national average in per student spending.
Despite the common increases in per student funding in these districts, reading and math proficiencies remain low, and enrollments continue their declines. Solutions suggested for the decline in enrollment and performance have been varied.
Both the NEA and the AFT, the largest teachers’ unions in the United States, have suggested that additional funding would be a sound remedy.
In testimony to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, AFT union president Randi Weingarten suggested additional school funding to solve reading issues, math issues, inequities, and teacher shortages.
On the other side of the aisle, school choice advocates have put forward legislation to give parents direct access to the tax-allocated funds to spend how they wish. Recent legislation in Arizona will give families $6,500 per year that a parent may spend on “private school, homeschooling, microschools, tutoring, or any other kinds of educational service that helps meet the needs of their students outside the traditional public school system,” according to Gov. Doug Ducey’s office.
If we made it a Felony for any past or present Public Employee to NOT send their children to the public school system, it would fix all of the problems they have...
All those principals, vice-principals, deans, “counselors”, etc. cost a lot of money. Not to mention the school boards, especially if they’re Dems...
I know of a private Catholic School, with 100% graduation rate, and kids going to top-ranked colleges, that spends $7500 per year.
Of course, they don’t own a $120 million school building, and they only teach subjects like physics, calculus, history, philosophy, music and english literature. They also don’t have school-funded organized sports.
$30,000 per student comes to $480,000 for a class of 20. (In my day, class size was typically about 28-30.) If a teacher made $150,000 in salary and benefits and each classroom had an annual cost of $50,000 for original construction and maintenance, and if each class accounted for $80,000 in administrative costs, that would still not account for $200,000 per class.
Wow a Catholic school without a football team? Isn’t that sacrilegious?
More wasted money for zero results. What a scam.
How much does the kid get vs how much does the system get?
Trade ya
so, $30K vouchers for private school?
or $10k voucher and $20K SALT property Tax rebate?
Throwing money at a problem issue is the go to of every socialist Democrat. LBJ’s Great Society was supposed to end poverty and hunger. Every Democrat president and governor has continued the largess but hunger and poverty is still with us as the poor decided the government benefits were better than bettering themselves by education and finding work.
Same deal with preschool programs and public school systems. Spending more per pupil rarely gets better literacy, math skills or even better attendance. The big money does get more school bureaucrats and diversity/equity programs. School lunches and breakfasts are free so more fat kids.
They weren’t getting paid, so they had to take it out on us students LOL.
We’ve had federally funded “Head Start” since 1965.
Minority students continue to get worse.
Truly a national scandal.
the cost of education is the labor cost...
We have become a banana republic 3rd world country where elites steal money meant for population. And we look at Africa and say how could that happen and it’s happening before out eyes right here
Yes. As if throwing more money at the school system makes for better education. No wonder that Asian countries are beating us in economics, science, and well, just about every category. Some Asian countries require mandatory proficiency in another language in order to graduate from high school. Our USA students can't even read English when they "graduate".
Nuns are not salaried in the usual sense of the word. They are members of religious communities or orders, and poverty is part of the deal. therefore they do not get pay checks or similar stipends. Money is donated to- say the Sisters of Charity- the Sisters of St.Joseph, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, etc. and goes into a common fund.
First, many priests and nuns have actual jobs with actual salaries from whomever it is that is employing them. Say a nun that works as a nurse in a hospital will be paid by the hospital a salary similar to any other non-nun nurse in that hospital.
That salary, though, normally doesn't go to their pockets. It goes to their congregation (the Jesuits, the Franciscans, whatever). Their congregation, in turn, pays for all their expenses (rent, meals) and often gives them a "discretionary budget" for them to buy all those minor little things that are too much of a pain to ask for (toothpaste, movie tickets, etc).
In many cases, they live in a house owned by the congregation, so there is no rent or meals to pay. Cars are normally owned by the congregation so there are no car payments and they get money for gas.
All these expenses are covered no matter what the actual job situation is. A member that works a highly paid job gets his expenses paid the same as some other that cleans the garden at their house. Ditto for retirement. The expenses are just covered no matter how much you contribute or have contributed to the congregation.
The median age of nuns is 80.
It’s difficult to find one these days.
One percent are under 40.
And most of that one percent are immigrants.
Wow! What hate.
BA, MA, PHD often required to work in the system.
Teachers work about 180 days/year.
Labor costs in education is mostly for administrators, who do nothing, and contribute nothing to the system.
Yes ther are fewer nuns around. If you are an enterprising young woman who doesn’t care about being married could enter an order and end up managing a real estate portfolio worth millions if they choose the right order.
Yeah, that’s a bad way to look at it. Just thinking about all the options.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.