The Incomplete Cynic

They spend WHAT? The real cost of public schools.

holden421:

holeycynicism:

holden421:

hipsterlibertarian:

coeus:

Real spending per pupil ranges from a low of nearly $12,000 in the Phoenix area schools to a high of nearly $27,000 in the New York metro area. The gap between real and reported per-pupil spending ranges from a low of 23 percent in the Chicago area to a high of 90 percent in the Los Angeles metro region.

To put public school spending in perspective, we compare it to estimated total expenditures in local private schools. We find that, in the areas studied, public schools are spending 93 percent more than the estimated median private school.

Citizens drastically underestimate current per-student spending and are misled by official figures. Taxpayers cannot make informed decisions about public school funding unless they know how much districts currently spend. And with state budgets stretched thin, it is more crucial than ever to carefully allocate every tax dollar.

Didn’t you know this already?

People often don’t believe me when I say that a localized, privatized school system would be both better and cheaper for even the poorest Americans.  Now I have numbers to back it up.

How are the poorest Americans going to afford private school? Public education is free, private schools cost money. When it comes down to feeding your family or paying for your child’s education, feeding your family comes first. Education is not supposed to be limited by your ability to spend money. So my only real question is “how do we get the poorest Americans enough money to send all their children to private money costing schools?”

“Public education is free”? Are you kidding? You just reblogged a report that public schools cost twice as much as private.

And, historically, education was limited by your ability to pay for it. That meant that you may not be able to go to a regular school, but you could be an apprentice somewhere if you worked hard. Or a community would pool their money and hire a teacher for their children. It can work.

But since most communities have a tax base, and are apparently accustomed to spending around $20k per student, why not give vouchers, encourage people to form new private schools and expand existing ones, and take advantage of schools that are better and cheaper than the public system?

Yes public education is free. Since we pay taxes we get the benefit of public education along with free public roads to use and free public beaches to visit. I guess you payed? Your parents signed a check to you public elementary school when you enrolled and then had to pay them another check every year you went their? Just like when you pay a members fee at a country club you get to play golf for free. Taxes are the members fee to the country club that is America membership includes education, roads, hospitals, a fire department, a police force, beaches, a Military and many other great perks. Maybe that helps?

Sorry, something isn’t free just because you don’t have to pay at the time of service. By that logic home repairs are free because you pay for insurance. 

We pay taxes, which means we paid for the roads, and the beaches, and the schools. We pay for the teachers, administrators, staff members and supplies. My parents wrote a check every year, whether I was in school or not, to the county for property taxes. So yes, they paid. They paid for public schools when I was going to a private preschool, and they paid for them when I was going to a private college. They still pay for them now, and so do I, even though my kids aren’t school age yet.

Your country club analogy is cute, but if my club’s golf course has weeds in the fairway and the tennis courts are falling apart, and I find a private golf course that’s cheaper and in much better shape, I can take my money there. No such luck with property taxes.