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> The problem is that the public education sector has been - for years - continuously squeezed dry of any funding. Public school spending in the US is up almos

> The problem is that the public education sector has been - for years - continuously squeezed dry of any funding. Public school spending in the US is up almost 50% in the last 30 years.[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/203118/expenditures-per-pupil-in-public-schools-in-the-us-since-1990/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/203118/expenditures-per-...

haizhung 3y ago
Thanks for the data! It seems that adjusted for inflation, it still is an overall net decrease (11,500$ in 1990 equals about 27,000$ today).
- jdminhbg 3y ago
  No, look at the chart again, it's denominated in constant 2021 dollars, i.e., adjusted for inflation. Public school spending has increased.
- hagy 3y ago
  The data is already adjusted for inflation as indicated in the y-axis label, "Expenditure in constant 2020-21 U.S. dollars".
cwoolfe 3y ago
I agree that funding isn't necessarily the problem. We live in a wealthy county and have more to spend per pupil. Unfortunately that doesn't translate to higher test scores. The extra dollars go to administrative positions in the central office which may or may not translate to better academic performance.
ryandrake 3y ago
Where's all that money going? Surely not to teachers who are chronically underpaid and have 30+ students per class. It's not buying school supplies, which our teachers often have to pay for out of pocket or hold bake sales to fund. Is it all going to football fields, useless technology spending, and 5 levels of non-teaching administration staff?
- bcrosby95 3y ago
  For our kids' school, the main thing that jumps out to me compared to when I was a kid is that each class has a paid aide. So there's 1 teacher per 30 or so students, but there's also an aide in there, so 1 adult per 15 students. I don't know if every school does this. But ours is public and I wouldn't have known this was a thing if my wife didn't volunteer.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Every school that can afford it basically has to, by law. They are there for all the kids on “Individual Education Plans”, or IEPs. The bar to expel a kid from regular classes in school was raised super high, so the schools now have to spend a lot of resources on developing and administering IEPs for kids that are unable to function well in a regular classroom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEA_2004 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEA_2004
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
AlexandrB 3y ago
Where the hell is all this money going? It's certainly not to teachers, whose salaries have barely changed[1] when adjusted for inflation. Is it going to real estate costs? Technology costs? Administration? What? [1] https://www.statista.com/chart/20979/public-school-teacher-salary-inflation/ https://www.statista.com/chart/20979/public-school-teacher-s...
- bequanna 3y ago
  Palatial buildings and sports field houses, bloated admin and special education aides.
- Workaccount2 3y ago
  Buying and supporting expensive laptops for every kid, with expensive education package subscriptions, all so kids can read a textbook on a screen instead of in a book.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  Giving a bad teacher more money won't make them a better teacher. Maybe you can argue that offering more money to teachers will draw in qualified people from other professions, but this kind of solution can't be implemented in a vacuum. The bad teachers are already in the schools and cannot easily be fired because they're protected by politically powerful unions and furthermore, protected by a substantial portion of the public who hold school teachers on a pedestal and will resist any political move to make it easier to fire bad teachers.
- YetAnotherNick 3y ago
  The 50% in 30 years is not inflation adjusted. So both of your graphs almost match without inflation.
  - streptomycin 3y ago
    It actually is inflation adjusted.
ok123456 3y ago
NCLB and charter schools made that bucket very leaky.

haizhung 3y ago

Thanks for the data! It seems that adjusted for inflation, it still is an overall net decrease (11,500$ in 1990 equals about 27,000$ today).

jdminhbg 3y ago
No, look at the chart again, it's denominated in constant 2021 dollars, i.e., adjusted for inflation. Public school spending has increased.
hagy 3y ago
The data is already adjusted for inflation as indicated in the y-axis label, "Expenditure in constant 2020-21 U.S. dollars".

cwoolfe 3y ago

I agree that funding isn't necessarily the problem. We live in a wealthy county and have more to spend per pupil. Unfortunately that doesn't translate to higher test scores. The extra dollars go to administrative positions in the central office which may or may not translate to better academic performance.

ryandrake 3y ago

Where's all that money going? Surely not to teachers who are chronically underpaid and have 30+ students per class. It's not buying school supplies, which our teachers often have to pay for out of pocket or hold bake sales to fund. Is it all going to football fields, useless technology spending, and 5 levels of non-teaching administration staff?

bcrosby95 3y ago
For our kids' school, the main thing that jumps out to me compared to when I was a kid is that each class has a paid aide. So there's 1 teacher per 30 or so students, but there's also an aide in there, so 1 adult per 15 students. I don't know if every school does this. But ours is public and I wouldn't have known this was a thing if my wife didn't volunteer.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Every school that can afford it basically has to, by law. They are there for all the kids on “Individual Education Plans”, or IEPs. The bar to expel a kid from regular classes in school was raised super high, so the schools now have to spend a lot of resources on developing and administering IEPs for kids that are unable to function well in a regular classroom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEA_2004 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEA_2004
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

AlexandrB 3y ago

Where the hell is all this money going? It's certainly not to teachers, whose salaries have barely changed[1] when adjusted for inflation. Is it going to real estate costs? Technology costs? Administration? What? [1] https://www.statista.com/chart/20979/public-school-teacher-salary-inflation/ https://www.statista.com/chart/20979/public-school-teacher-s...

bequanna 3y ago
Palatial buildings and sports field houses, bloated admin and special education aides.
Workaccount2 3y ago
Buying and supporting expensive laptops for every kid, with expensive education package subscriptions, all so kids can read a textbook on a screen instead of in a book.
mcpackieh 3y ago
Giving a bad teacher more money won't make them a better teacher. Maybe you can argue that offering more money to teachers will draw in qualified people from other professions, but this kind of solution can't be implemented in a vacuum. The bad teachers are already in the schools and cannot easily be fired because they're protected by politically powerful unions and furthermore, protected by a substantial portion of the public who hold school teachers on a pedestal and will resist any political move to make it easier to fire bad teachers.
YetAnotherNick 3y ago
The 50% in 30 years is not inflation adjusted. So both of your graphs almost match without inflation.
- streptomycin 3y ago
  It actually is inflation adjusted.

ok123456 3y ago

NCLB and charter schools made that bucket very leaky.