The dramatic cost-cutting happening in the federal government makes me think about another area where spending less money would produce better results: public schools. Increased spending of taxpayer money on education has not led to better education. The dramatic losses in student proficiency are not just a dip because of the Covid shutdown five years ago, but a decades-long slide in achievement. Yet, more money is spent with worse results. Neither the taxpayer nor the student is getting value for money.
No school district spends more per student than the New York City school district: $36,293 per student. With an average classroom size of 24 students, that cost means that each schoolroom represents $871,032 per year. The classroom teachers earn less than $100,000 per year, so how does New York City spend three-quarters of a million dollars per classroom? The bloated administration eats up a whole lot of money. Are the 24 students in each classroom getting the full value of the $871,032 spent on their education per year? Three years ago, New York passed legislation to reduce the classroom size, but smaller classrooms have not led to better outcomes. Smaller classrooms cost even more money to operate.
Does spending so much money produce better outcomes for the students? In the last school year in New York City, 53 percent of third through eighth graders were proficient in math and 49 percent were proficient in reading. That means that nearly half of students in the New York City public schools were failing. Yet, any kid who shows up for graduation can get a diploma!
In St. Louis City, the public school system is shockingly bad: less than 15 percent of students are proficient, which means that the public school is failing to provide a basic education in reading and math for 85 percent of their students. If the student cannot read or count, the student has been shackled for life as a dependent on government help. St. Louis spends $21,756 per student. Many families have fled the district; the public school system now only has 16,542 students, which is a 60 percent loss from 30 years ago. Of course, spending did not decrease when the population decreased. Instead, the spending by the superintendents and school board members on fancy dinners and travel perks has increased! The St. Louis school system has 68 schools and they are operating at less than half of their student capacity, yet there are no plans to close any schools.
Closing the Department of Education may save taxpayer money, but these savings should not be redirected to dysfunctional school districts. The students deserve a better chance and taxpayer money should not be wasted on bloated bureaucracies.
