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All of those ideas are certainly good things. But even if they managed to decrease the eduction budget to $0, that wouldn't make a dent in government deficits (

by scarmig 14y ago

All of those ideas are certainly good things. But even if they managed to decrease the eduction budget to $0, that wouldn't make a dent in government deficits (in the USA, at least, and I suspect elsewhere). They're driven primarily by unfunded entitlement spending and to a lesser extent by the military budget.

dkokelley 14y ago
I think you are confusing the federal and state governments. The federal government spends most of its budget on defense and entitlements. Only a smaller portion goes on to education (usually in the form of grants and subsidies to the state). Education happens at the state level. For example, California's proposed budget for 2012-2013 (http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/SummaryC...) spends $50 of the $141 billion total budget on education (k-12 and higher education). Compare that to the < 2% ($72 billion) that the US federal budget will spend in the department of education. (Note: Consider that California alone spends 5/7ths of what the federal government will spend on the department of education this year). The parent's ideas for reforms are most applicable to state governments, since that's where most education spending happens. California is also in a pretty bad spot economically, so if it were possible to drastically reduce the cost of education (without impacting the level of service), it would significantly help our state's finances. [Disclaimer: California is the largest state economy, and the relative education budget will vary between states.]
yummyfajitas 14y ago
As of 2010, we spent $1,038B on health care, $955B on pensions, $898B on education and $848 on defense. The deficit was $1,293B, so education spending was a big chunk of it. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2010_US_total http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2010_US_total

by scarmig 14y ago

dkokelley 14y ago

I think you are confusing the federal and state governments. The federal government spends most of its budget on defense and entitlements. Only a smaller portion goes on to education (usually in the form of grants and subsidies to the state). Education happens at the state level. For example, California's proposed budget for 2012-2013 (http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/SummaryC...) spends $50 of the $141 billion total budget on education (k-12 and higher education). Compare that to the < 2% ($72 billion) that the US federal budget will spend in the department of education. (Note: Consider that California alone spends 5/7ths of what the federal government will spend on the department of education this year). The parent's ideas for reforms are most applicable to state governments, since that's where most education spending happens. California is also in a pretty bad spot economically, so if it were possible to drastically reduce the cost of education (without impacting the level of service), it would significantly help our state's finances. [Disclaimer: California is the largest state economy, and the relative education budget will vary between states.]

yummyfajitas 14y ago

As of 2010, we spent $1,038B on health care, $955B on pensions, $898B on education and $848 on defense. The deficit was $1,293B, so education spending was a big chunk of it. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2010_US_total http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2010_US_total