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The oft-made political claim that public education is underfunded is just plain false. Liv Finne writes:
As we conclude National School Choice Week 2022, people around Washington state are about to hear a familiar refrain: Public schools need more money.
Official reports, however, show that isn’t true.
Official figures show public schools in Washington state now receive record levels of funding, even as the system has fewer students.
Citations to these official figures are provided by the Center for Education Reform of the Washington Policy Center’s new study “Public Education Spending: Where Does the Money Go? Trends in Teacher Salary and Benefits Costs in Washington Public Schools, 2015-2021.”
Total annual school funding in the current budget is $17.5 billion, the highest ever. Average per-student funding is $16,800, the highest ever and more than the tuition at most private schools. A modest-sized classroom of 25 students receives an average of $420,000 a year. Even if the teacher receives $120,000 in pay and benefits, a level that is now typical, schools have plenty of money to fund learning services.
Some 83% of public school spending goes to pay and benefits for employees. Fewer than half, about 43%, of school employees are actual classroom teachers.
More HERE
