4 ms·

School districts have no money to spare. Due to wealth inequality, the fruits of prosperity are accumulating somewhere inaccessible.

missedthecue 5y ago
The average school in America spends almost $16,000 per student per year. In some cities like Baltimore, it's over $20,000 per student annually.
- Xt-6 5y ago
  How much of that is spend on sports facilities?
  - handmodel 5y ago
    I can't imagine (outside of Texas) its very high at all. Most elementary schools dont have anything besides a basic field and gym and the cost per them is usually slightly higher than high school. The biggest increases in expenditures are specialists for children with speech problems, reading problems, learning disabilities etc. as professions like speech language pathologists usually earn considerably more than teachers and the number of them within any school has increased considerable too. I'm not making a value judgement - that's just where the money is going.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > The biggest increases in expenditures are Purchased services (janitorial, professional development, etc.) Staff costs, including teachers, administrators, and specialists, are up only slightly per student (down as a share of total) over time, as are supplies.
    - jkepler 5y ago
      Is the increase in child speech and reading problems due in part to the breakdown of family structures and the corresponding absense or regular family meals together (with conversation) and family reading aloud? Those would be significant handicaps to learning speech and reading if the child doesn't receive good role modeling at home. Does anyone know of socioeconomic studies that look for correlations between family stability/duration and rates of speech/language pathologies?
      - wutbrodo 5y ago
        > Is the increase in child speech and reading problems _Is_ there such an increase? The GP comment says that use of speech pathologists increased, not that this was due to an increase in kids with these problems. My assumption was just that we're serving these kids better, where in the past they'd be less likely to be identified and helped.
- afavour 5y ago
  You state that as a damning statistic and my gut reaction was that it seemed high to me too. But what is a reasonable amount to spend per student? Beyond a gut reaction of that feeling like too much in reality I have no idea. An extremely simple divide by 365 comes out at $43 a day. When presented like that it doesn’t seem totally insane.
  - ianlevesque 5y ago
    To just have them in child care, no education, for a year is $12,000-ish. It doesn't sound so crazy that educating them would cost a little more. https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/#/NY https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/#/...
  - bentcorner 5y ago
    Average teacher salary is about $50k per year. Average student:teacher ratio is 16:1 (this feels low, but I got it from here: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/average-student-teacher-ratio-stats/national-data https://www.publicschoolreview.com/average-student-teacher-r...) So those $16k * 16 = $256k which can pay for about 5 full time teachers, which feels like it's in the right ballpark. 1 full time teacher, 1-2 part time assistants, and the rest peanut buttered across admin, other support staff and benefits.
    - sagarm 5y ago
      Also facilities, materials (which teachers often buy out of pocket right now) and other services like lunch and busing. Students with disabilities and other problems also need to be taken care of, and often this costs significantly more. One way private schools save money is by simply kicking these kids out. School is mostly a daycare, and only a little about education.
  - pseudo0 5y ago
    It seems kind of crazy that for that amount, you could hire excellent full-time private tutors at a 4:1 student to teacher ratio. I know a number of parents who felt that their kids got a much better educational experience through COVID "pods" thanks to the drastically smaller class size, but they had to pay for it out of pocket. But since it appears to cost the same amount, why not offer that as a publicly funded option?

missedthecue 5y ago

The average school in America spends almost $16,000 per student per year. In some cities like Baltimore, it's over $20,000 per student annually.

Xt-6 5y ago
How much of that is spend on sports facilities?
- handmodel 5y ago
  I can't imagine (outside of Texas) its very high at all. Most elementary schools dont have anything besides a basic field and gym and the cost per them is usually slightly higher than high school. The biggest increases in expenditures are specialists for children with speech problems, reading problems, learning disabilities etc. as professions like speech language pathologists usually earn considerably more than teachers and the number of them within any school has increased considerable too. I'm not making a value judgement - that's just where the money is going.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > The biggest increases in expenditures are Purchased services (janitorial, professional development, etc.) Staff costs, including teachers, administrators, and specialists, are up only slightly per student (down as a share of total) over time, as are supplies.
  - jkepler 5y ago
    Is the increase in child speech and reading problems due in part to the breakdown of family structures and the corresponding absense or regular family meals together (with conversation) and family reading aloud? Those would be significant handicaps to learning speech and reading if the child doesn't receive good role modeling at home. Does anyone know of socioeconomic studies that look for correlations between family stability/duration and rates of speech/language pathologies?
    - wutbrodo 5y ago
      > Is the increase in child speech and reading problems _Is_ there such an increase? The GP comment says that use of speech pathologists increased, not that this was due to an increase in kids with these problems. My assumption was just that we're serving these kids better, where in the past they'd be less likely to be identified and helped.
afavour 5y ago
You state that as a damning statistic and my gut reaction was that it seemed high to me too. But what is a reasonable amount to spend per student? Beyond a gut reaction of that feeling like too much in reality I have no idea. An extremely simple divide by 365 comes out at $43 a day. When presented like that it doesn’t seem totally insane.
- ianlevesque 5y ago
  To just have them in child care, no education, for a year is $12,000-ish. It doesn't sound so crazy that educating them would cost a little more. https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/#/NY https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/#/...
- bentcorner 5y ago
  Average teacher salary is about $50k per year. Average student:teacher ratio is 16:1 (this feels low, but I got it from here: https://www.publicschoolreview.com/average-student-teacher-ratio-stats/national-data https://www.publicschoolreview.com/average-student-teacher-r...) So those $16k * 16 = $256k which can pay for about 5 full time teachers, which feels like it's in the right ballpark. 1 full time teacher, 1-2 part time assistants, and the rest peanut buttered across admin, other support staff and benefits.
  - sagarm 5y ago
    Also facilities, materials (which teachers often buy out of pocket right now) and other services like lunch and busing. Students with disabilities and other problems also need to be taken care of, and often this costs significantly more. One way private schools save money is by simply kicking these kids out. School is mostly a daycare, and only a little about education.
- pseudo0 5y ago
  It seems kind of crazy that for that amount, you could hire excellent full-time private tutors at a 4:1 student to teacher ratio. I know a number of parents who felt that their kids got a much better educational experience through COVID "pods" thanks to the drastically smaller class size, but they had to pay for it out of pocket. But since it appears to cost the same amount, why not offer that as a publicly funded option?