Tightening Belts Without Going Hungry: Better Spending in Public Education

How’s this for vomit-inducing? According to reporting by Education Week, “education has enjoyed a ‘privileged’ position for many years, consistently taking in more revenue than the rate of inflation,” said James W. Guthrie, a senior fellow and director of educational policy studies at –- are you surprised? -– the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas, TX. Really? Privileged?

Regardless of what’s happened in the past, no one will argue about what’s happening today: even elitist conservatives concede that education funding is going down the tubes to a frightening degree.

On January 11, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research gathered in Washington, D.C. to host “A Penny Saved: How Schools and Districts Can Tighten Their Belts While Serving Students Better.” (C-Span also covered this event.) Though the message here might well justify the snarky undertones of Education Week’s headline for the story (“Experts Urge Districts to Do More with Less”), this convergence of money-minded thinkers is nevertheless a worthy endeavor. To use money wisely, not just acquire more money, is the cornerstone of school success (and, naturally, the success of any business or nonprofit).

Among suggestions from the ten white papers presented at the conference are to transfer school-day elective classes to after-school activities, reduce teacher-absence rates, expand online earning options, and strategically eliminate old initiatives rather than layer on new ones just to avoid political warfare. Other suggestions, however, fly in the face of what public education advocates and teachers’ unions have been battling for years, such as -- heaven forbid -- increasing already astronomical class sizes.

As personnel costs take up the largest percentage of public school spending (despite a teacher’s meager salary), one way of looking at this might be to consider a public school employee's job quality -- just as teacher-absence rates cost schools money, so does the rate of teacher turnover: 46 percent leave the job after five years, costing the education system a whopping $7 billion annually. Of course, people are casting about frantically for quick-fixes, not long-term wish lists. But if only there was a way to marry the two, public schools would be a lot better off.

Photo credit: Photos8.com