The True Cost of Public Education

What is the true cost of public education? According to a new study by the Cato Institute, some of the nation's largest public school districts are underreporting the true cost of government-run education programs.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11432

Cato Education Analyst Adam B. Schaeffer explains that the nations five largest metro areas and the District of Columbia are blurring the numbers on education costs. On average, per-pupil spending in these areas is 44 percent higher than officially reported. Districts on average spent nearly $18,000 per student and yet claimed to spend just $12,500 last year.

It is impossible to have a public debate about education policy if public schools can't be straight forward about their spending.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Cato
• Institute
• Adam
• Schaeffer
• Education
• Libertarian
• Private
• Policy
• Politics
• Government

[jonescomplete]

I wish tax receipts would say exactly what the money paid for...

[benxr2006]

good god...

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

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- net gains during the crisis by largely forgoing repackaged subprime mortgages (weathering constant punitive legal action to do so) and the new short-term debt papers, in favour relatively traditional and conservative assets.

But most telling of all is the emergence of the shadow banking sector shortly after Basel II. I've read some economic history, but I've never heard of anything like it. The closest thing I know of is the Blat, the organized Soviet black markets.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@dudelikesWoW

"Regulated?" How much more "regulated" can you get than outright state ownership?

Your characterization of the 2008 financial crisis is completely ahistorical. It happened a few years after a major change in and expansion of the regulatory structure, in a period of severe inflation and credit manipulation, and was most severely felt in the enormously subsidized subprime mortgage sector, Banks like Wells-Fargo were even able to continue making small, consistent -

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[dudelikesWoW]

@PanzerDivisionBOM So what you're saying is public schools need to be watched over and regulated more carefully? I agree.

Other than that, the only thing I'm getting out of your reply that is relevant to my 5-month-old comment is that you think it's a great idea to have such ethical companies (like Monsanto and World News) to come in and teach children a pro-business attitude? When the entire economic collapse of 2008 was caused by such an attitude? Sounds like you need to go back to school.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

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- use the same methods as public schools have been using for the last 200 years. They're also subject to the teacher unions' cartelistic licensing systems and writs of tenure.

They're a poor representation, a shadow of a shadow of what free enterprise in education may look like, with all forms of significant innovation prohibited by law. They're made to use the same same resources in a similar way, and they still regularly outperform public schools.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@dudelikesWoW

How much money is enough? Because no matter how much money they get, they always seem to be doing worse. Internationally, funding does not seem to correlate with performance. How expensive should it really be to get some books and some people to teach math, reading and the sciences?

What guarrantee is there that your cherished public schools will put the money to use in a way of which you approve?

And private schools are heavily regulated today, and made to -

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[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@justmichelle71

I think that the basic premises of public education are incorrect, and that anyone who puts this institution into its historical context and examines it dispassionately will come to the same conclusion.

I'm also quite convinced that any impetus to abolish it, or even to change it substantially for the better will not come from within the system, because the teachers and bureaucrats are quite content with their current position and have no incentive to innovate.

[justmichelle71]

Wouldn't it be nice if the public schools actually took their money and spent it on our kid's education? The problem is all the extra crap/junkets that school administrators and teachers enjoy while students still share outdated books. I'm sure after the elections are over the dept of education will take the 1st hit. I'm also sure that the frivolous spending will still continue and educational programs will be cut instead to make up any budget shortfalls.