3 ms·

I have no real view on public/private provision of services, but education is an area where I'm not sure how private 'efficiency savings' would exist. The bulk

by zelos 6y ago

I have no real view on public/private provision of services, but education is an area where I'm not sure how private 'efficiency savings' would exist. The bulk of the costs are salaries and the teacher/pupil ratio is roughly fixed for a given quality of education. Does anyone have experience of this? Are there actually areas that private enteprise can come in and save money in education?

iguy 6y ago
I think "selection" is the short answer. If you can, by any means, arrange to have a class of better-behaved more-interested children, then you can save money. First, you can pay the teachers less, because the job is much more pleasant. Second, you can avoid hiring special-ed non-teachers, who (IIRC) are quite numerous in some public school systems (like 1/3 the staff?) but aren't usually counted in the teacher/pupil ratio (because their jobs are different).
silvestrov 6y ago
You have not visited an American school lately and seen the mindblowing numbers of administrators employed? Baltimore: "For every student enrolled in City Schools, $1630 goes to administrators" [1] Even universities have a problem with the administration growing wihtout bounds. A profit motive can cut down on unneeded administrators. The "misc_costs" can be widly different for different school systems. Why should a head of a public school each $+100k ? [2] What is it about a standard run-of-the-mill public school that can only be performed by such high earners? 1) https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-city-schools-1-in-america-for-admin-costs https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-ci... 2) https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/elementary-school-principal-salary-SRCH_KO0,27.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/elementary-school-princip...
germinalphrase 6y ago
In the US, teacher to student ratios are generally not fixed. One wchool may have 25 to a class. Another 35. If you can select only high performing students with fewer individual needs, you can increase the number of students without needing additional staff. Likewise, you can higher fewer or no language teachers, special education teachers, etc.
techpression 6y ago
Proven false by Swedish schools, just this week a pretty thorough investigation showed that same result schools in certain cities had almost twice the funding per student compared to others, for no gain.

by zelos 6y ago

iguy 6y ago

I think "selection" is the short answer. If you can, by any means, arrange to have a class of better-behaved more-interested children, then you can save money. First, you can pay the teachers less, because the job is much more pleasant. Second, you can avoid hiring special-ed non-teachers, who (IIRC) are quite numerous in some public school systems (like 1/3 the staff?) but aren't usually counted in the teacher/pupil ratio (because their jobs are different).

silvestrov 6y ago

You have not visited an American school lately and seen the mindblowing numbers of administrators employed? Baltimore: "For every student enrolled in City Schools, $1630 goes to administrators" [1] Even universities have a problem with the administration growing wihtout bounds. A profit motive can cut down on unneeded administrators. The "misc_costs" can be widly different for different school systems. Why should a head of a public school each $+100k ? [2] What is it about a standard run-of-the-mill public school that can only be performed by such high earners? 1) https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-city-schools-1-in-america-for-admin-costs https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-ci... 2) https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/elementary-school-principal-salary-SRCH_KO0,27.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/elementary-school-princip...

germinalphrase 6y ago

In the US, teacher to student ratios are generally not fixed. One wchool may have 25 to a class. Another 35. If you can select only high performing students with fewer individual needs, you can increase the number of students without needing additional staff. Likewise, you can higher fewer or no language teachers, special education teachers, etc.

techpression 6y ago

Proven false by Swedish schools, just this week a pretty thorough investigation showed that same result schools in certain cities had almost twice the funding per student compared to others, for no gain.