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Could you please support this statement: "The US spends more on education than the military"? This view (https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/agency https://ww

Could you please support this statement: "The US spends more on education than the military"? This view (https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/agency https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/agency) suggests Defense spending is $1.1 trillion in 2023 while Department of Education funding is $208 billion.

EA-3167 3y ago
The entire US military budget is federal, but most of the education budget comes from the states. You're comparing apples to oranges.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > The entire US military budget is federal, False. For instance, California’s military spending in FY 2023-2024 is budgeted at $293.6 million (putting it between Paraguay and Niger in military spending), of which the majority is state funds, not federal support (by state funds alone, its somewhere around Monogolia’s military spending.) It is true that the vast majority of the US’s defense spending is federal, though. [0] https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/8000/8940.pdf https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/8...
  - danielmarkbruce 3y ago
    When rounding in any reasonable way, it's true.
  - EA-3167 3y ago
    So... it isn't ALL federal, it's just 99.99% federal. Gotcha. Meanwhile the US federal education budget is just 10% of the total spending on education in the US. I'm going to say that the former is a rounding error, and the latter is massively significant.
- ulrashida 3y ago
  Importantly, I'm asking for the original commenter to clarify their position. I'm not comparing any sort of fruit at this point other than pointing out the disparity at the federal level. Do you have figures comparing "all-in" funding for both defense and education at the state and federal levels? From casual inspection of the points posted so far, it seems like a more correct statement is: "The United States, nationally, funds education at about the same level as defense." If correct, I'd argue the initial poster's comment is inaccurate.
  - EA-3167 3y ago
    Here are some figures: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statisti... Putting the US as the 2nd in terms of "per pupil" funding in the world and pointing out that the federal education budget is just 10.5% of the total spend on education in the US.
suggestion 3y ago
The overwhelming majority of education funding is at the state or lower level, not federal.
Metacelsus 3y ago
D-of-Ed is just federal funding, most education funding (unlike defense funding) is at the state/local level.
FuriouslyAdrift 3y ago
"Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States were $870 billion in 2019–20 (in constant 2021–22 dollars)" That does not include college funding. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66

EA-3167 3y ago

The entire US military budget is federal, but most of the education budget comes from the states. You're comparing apples to oranges.

dragonwriter 3y ago
> The entire US military budget is federal, False. For instance, California’s military spending in FY 2023-2024 is budgeted at $293.6 million (putting it between Paraguay and Niger in military spending), of which the majority is state funds, not federal support (by state funds alone, its somewhere around Monogolia’s military spending.) It is true that the vast majority of the US’s defense spending is federal, though. [0] https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/8000/8940.pdf https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/8...
- danielmarkbruce 3y ago
  When rounding in any reasonable way, it's true.
- EA-3167 3y ago
  So... it isn't ALL federal, it's just 99.99% federal. Gotcha. Meanwhile the US federal education budget is just 10% of the total spending on education in the US. I'm going to say that the former is a rounding error, and the latter is massively significant.
ulrashida 3y ago
Importantly, I'm asking for the original commenter to clarify their position. I'm not comparing any sort of fruit at this point other than pointing out the disparity at the federal level. Do you have figures comparing "all-in" funding for both defense and education at the state and federal levels? From casual inspection of the points posted so far, it seems like a more correct statement is: "The United States, nationally, funds education at about the same level as defense." If correct, I'd argue the initial poster's comment is inaccurate.
- EA-3167 3y ago
  Here are some figures: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statisti... Putting the US as the 2nd in terms of "per pupil" funding in the world and pointing out that the federal education budget is just 10.5% of the total spend on education in the US.

suggestion 3y ago

The overwhelming majority of education funding is at the state or lower level, not federal.

Metacelsus 3y ago

D-of-Ed is just federal funding, most education funding (unlike defense funding) is at the state/local level.

FuriouslyAdrift 3y ago

"Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States were $870 billion in 2019–20 (in constant 2021–22 dollars)" That does not include college funding. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66