Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Money Doesn't Buy an Education

Ever wonder what people get for the per pupil expenditures in public education? Well, if the numbers compiled by Human Events Online are any indication, not much.
The District of Columbia spends far more money per student in its public elementary and secondary schools each year than the tuition costs at many private elementary schools, or even college-preparatory secondary schools. Yet, District 8th-graders ranked dead last in 2005 in national reading and math tests.

D.C.'s public elementary and secondary schools spent a total of $16,334 per student in the 2002-2003 school year, according to a Department of Education study. That compares to the $10,520 tuition at St. John's College High School, a District Catholic school that sends almost all its graduates to four-year colleges.
All the sturm and drang from the teacher unions and Democrats who continue to support a public education system that fails in it most basic function completely ignores the facts. Simply saying, "we need more money" or more this or more that is not going to cut. If one were to simply look at the money spent on educating our children, we should have the most educated, proficient and stunning thinkers on our hands, but we don't. Why? The reasons are many, but it is certainly not for a lack of funds.

While there are always going to be discussion about whether the per pupil expenditures are an accurate depiction of how much money is actually spent in a state's education system on student achievment or whether the proficiency rating is fair or not, I would not be surprised if there is too much of a difference. The simple fact of the matter is that we, as a nation, spend half a TRILLION dollars on public education, every year on the federal, state, and local levels, and yet
[n]ot one U.S. state can boast that a majority of the 8th-graders in its public schools last year had achieved grade-level proficiency or better in either reading or math.
As I have advocated before, we as parents and as taxpayer need to start demanding more from our public officials and our public schools.

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