opinion:
Chicago public schools are spending more than $29,000 per student now, up from $17,800 in 2020. This is despite a decline in enrollment of 8.9% over the same period. School districts across the country are spiking spending despite declining enrollment. Not only is this an economic catastrophe, but student learning has plummeted while spending has skyrocketed.
In the fall of 2020, more than 3 million students were out of school nationwide. Half a million of them are kindergarteners, and her parents chose to drop online school for her 5-year-old who can’t read. By the spring of 2021, public school enrollment had dwindled to his 4 million mark, a staggering 9% drop. From 2022 he has the 2023 academic year underway, so the runoff hasn’t slowed down.
A consistent trend among students who have left K-12 public schools in the past three years is that they do not return. Parents and students are seeing firsthand the benefits of alternative educational modalities such as private schools, homeschooling, microschools, learning pods and virtual schools. Enjoying a new learning experience, the only aspect she lacks in her K-12 public school is that it’s “free” thanks to the heavy taxes it all draws from.
Despite a sharp decline in enrollment, staffing levels have remained flat or even increased. Staffing levels are not being maintained in non-government industries, even in the face of significant and continuing customer declines. Downsizing is inevitable. But in K-12 education, claims of understaffing continue despite declining student numbers, largely due to powerful teacher unions working with Democratic policymakers.
Seattle Public Schools, for example, employs more than 7,000 adults, or 1 employee for every 7 students. The school system has not suspended plans to hire more employees despite a 7.5% drop in enrollment. With only 47% of the district’s employees working as classroom teachers, overstaffing drives up costs for the taxpayer, and without factoring in capital budget funding, he costs $22,200 per student. equivalent to a dollar.
Seattle school districts aren’t just spending recklessly in the face of declining student numbers. In 2021, the Los Angeles Unified School District passed his $13.8 billion operating budget for the 2021-2022 school year. This is a 62% increase over last year’s budget. With this increase, spending per student soared to $24,000 for her and over $7,000 for him in three years.
The same reality applies to public schools in New York City. In the country’s largest public school district, spending per student increased by $30,772 in 2020, but enrollment fell by 9.5%.
Seattle schools recently agreed a new three-year deal with the Seattle Education Association to add about 20% to their budget, primarily due to increased salaries and increased staffing. But superintendent Brent Jones admits the district doesn’t have the funding for her agreed $228 million increase.
So where does this money to fill the funding gap come from? Taxpayers, of course. Schools operate an overstaffing model ignoring declining enrollment. This is because the education system is well placed to claim that it is underfunded.
It’s hard to argue against the sentimental ruse that “If you care about your children and your community, you’ll vote for fully funding public schools.” It doesn’t take into account the bureaucracy and staff roster of the school district that has become corrupted. Furthermore, we are not responsible for paying more for consistently failing to improve student learning.
Nationally, as of 2020-2021, public school districts will employ 135 adults per 1,000 students, or 7.4 adults per student, similar to Seattle’s numbers. . In the early 1950s, this ratio exceeded her 17 students per adult. Since staff costs are the largest item in the school’s operating budget, it is not surprising that annual funding needs will increase even as more funds are put into the system.
Put another way, the K-12 public education system has four times as many administrators as it did in the 1950s, creating excessive bureaucracy and using up about half of the budget before the money reaches the classroom. increase.
Newark, New Jersey is a prime example of this inefficiency. Of the $20,000 spent per student, over $10,000 is spent on school administration. And when the funding finally hits the classroom level, it has little positive impact on students, as much of that funding is eaten up by teacher salaries, generous benefit packages and fancy pensions.
The next time you hear that public schools are underfunded or understaffed, don’t be fooled. Washington State Public Schools average about $119,000 annually in pay and benefits for a nine-month service year, compared to the statewide average salary of about $56,600 for most 12-month positions.
And while we continue to pour more money and additional staff into the K-12 public education system, student achievement over the last few decades has not improved. On the contrary, student performance has remained flat despite enormous funding and personnel expansion.
It’s time to end the absurdity and redesign U.S. K-12 education so that funding follows students and parents choose the educational avenues that best serve their children. As a result, a free-market educational environment based on choice and competition forces schools to educate their students in more effective and cost-effective ways, or else lose students and eventually go out of business. It will be.
Taxpayers, parents and community members should demand a higher return on the $800 billion investment in K-12 education. The future of our children and our country deserves no more.
• Keri D. Ingraham is a Discovery Institute Fellow and Director of the Institute’s Center for American Education Transformation.
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