A classroom size of 35 isn't the same as an instructor ratio of 1:35. Gym teachers, art teachers, librarians, counselors and tons of other support staff that di

A classroom size of 35 isn't the same as an instructor ratio of 1:35. Gym teachers, art teachers, librarians, counselors and tons of other support staff that directly deal with students all day all need to get paid. This study shows that most schools in the bay area seem to have a ratio of 1:20 for certificated staff to students. https://sfeducation.substack.com/p/salaries-staffing-and-school-sizes https://sfeducation.substack.com/p/salaries-staffing-and-sch... The school district also accommodates incredibly high need children that may have staff ratios higher than 1:1. A deaf student may have a trained interpreter that is assigned specifically to them. Autistic students, kids with down syndrome, etc... are all entitled to a public education. Just because YOUR kid doesn't cost $24k per year to educate doesn't mean that some kids don't consume multiples of that number through no fault of their own. More cynically, I suspect that a lot of it gets siphoned away by spending that has no actual impact on students. Things like bloated admin, badly managed contractors, dumb tech contracts