No need to concede, I was just clarifying. ;)
Thanks for your reply.
Definitions/nomenclature are critical and people can play games through definitions.
I also agree that high costs of education are distressing to many of us here at FR. Particularly when news shows often only fair to middling test scores.
You are also correct that when districts spend money on apparent frills (such as your building with mosaics) it should not be surprising that many taxpayers get upset only because they are so visible to people driving by a school.
But keep in mind that such frills are not *recurring* expenses and are usually only a small part of a multi-million dollar building cost.
On the other hand, year in and year out, salaries/benefits are precisely where the bulk of any school district's expenses are.
Your sister says about a third of the school's employees are teachers.... I'd have to know how large the school is. A small school requires more support staff. Also depends how people are classified. Some schools claim librarians or counselors as instructional personnel but those employees do not have any students assigned to them.