[the]

Not a conclusive piece, but a useful summary of good data for anyone fighting their budget-happy local school boards.

[the]

Bump!

[Chi-townChief]

BUMP

[upchuck]

Education is a black hole just like the government. Ever sucking more and more of our tax dollars and producing less and less.

'course somebody's gotta pay for all the whatever-centric programs and the diversity programs and the "How to enjoy being a faggot" programs.

Hmmm... interesting... NONE of those programs have anything to do with why the kids are there: readin', writin' and 'rithmetric.

[anniegetyourgun]

"But that money must all be frittered away on administration rather than instruction, at least as compared to 1960. Well, table 164 suggests that this isn't so: The ratio of instructional expenses to all current expenses in 1959 was 67.7%; in 1998, it was 61.7%, somewhat less but not tremendously so. I know of no evidence that the definition of "instructional expenses" has changed materially since then, though if some of you do know of such evidence, please let me know."

The writer admits to not having the full picture on this angle and I think it is the culprit. I can name school districts in my state that spend less than 1% of their operating budgets on curriculum and textbooks. It explains why when I was in school we had books issued to us and now the students often have no books, but instead get copies of worksheets from books. My guess is that student books are less important to our school districts than having a nice conference room in which to conduct labor negotiations.

[okie01]

Ping.

[Ken H]

I'd like to see the amount of Federal dollars going to schools during these two time periods.

I'll bet the numbers are striking.

Does anyone have the figures?