The constant plead for more money

In Thomas Sowell's book Inside American Education, Dr. Sowell lists several responses to any criticism or concerns about public education. One of the first things defenders of public schools will say is "There really isn't a problem." Another constant response Dr. Sowell lists is they'll say the problem is someone else's problem. (In fairness to this response, with almost any complex problem there is often more than one contributing cause. I would be happy to acknowledge that the problem with public schools isn't completely a public school problem, but a large part of the decline in education is due to how public schools are run.) One of the last responses by defenders of public schools is: "Well maybe there is a problem, and maybe it is our problem, but we don't have enough money. Give us more money!!!" (Can you hear the baby bird cries of “Feed me! Feed me!”)

Over the last couple decades the cost of public schools has been climbing faster than inflation. And when people are reminded that the average private school uses about half as much money and does as good (or better) job, people realize the demand for more money is a weak response. (Never mind that homeschoolers do a much better job with a small fraction of the money public schools spend.)

I have a vague memory that some state education leader was recently quoted as saying that to have enough money funding would have to be increased by a factor of ten, they needed ten times more money. I thought this was in the John Stossel report Stupid in America, but I've looked and didn't see this line.

With this context it was interesting to read a recent column (with data) by Vicki Murray: Cash Strapped or Crying Wolf? She writes about how not only are some school districts in Arizona doing the baby bird cry of "Feed me," but ten school districts have formed a lobbyist’s organization to present their "need" for more money.

Here is the kicker: the ten school districts asking for more money each have a higher per student funding level that the average school district in Arizona. It seems like the lesson these ten school districts have learned is how to effectively get more money. They haven't learned how to dramatically improve their schools.

We wrote here about a construction project in New Jersey which is out of control and is just spending billions of dollars. And here we wrote about a single high school down in Los Angelos which is costing $90,000,000 more than originally planned. And we mentioned just last week David W. Kirkpatrick built a scary list of places public schools waste money.

Parents, citizens, and tax payers need to learn to push back and respond to these constant demands for more money with “Learn to use the money more effectively.” Or “Don’t waste the money you have.” Or “OK, we’ll go with vouchers and find someone who can do a better job with less money.”


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