You ever watch "Ghost Hunters?" I love that show, even if they are conning the viewers into thinking they are dealing with real ghosts.
The Detroit Public School System has a real ghost problem, though. Recently, all school district employees were made to pick up their check or direct deposit pay stub in person. This resulted in 257 checks being left over, meaning there were 257 "ghost employees" receiving taxpayer money.
The total cost of these "employees?" $208,000. This may not come as a suprise, but the Detroit Public School System is $430 million is debt. You read that right. They are almost half a billion dollars in debt. A recent audit found the system may have "lost" $1.7 million. The same audit found out why. Of the 194 schools in the system, only five had "entirely proper bookkeeping."
Behold the efficiency of government schools.
I've got another one for you. In New York, they are currently paying over 700 teachers to do nothing. I guess that isn't entirely true. They aren't doing nothing. Some play Scrabble, others work on their novels and more surf the Internet. Some may be reading this article right now.
They go to these rooms for months at a time because they are not allowed to teach. They have been accused of various actions, from insubordination to sexual misconduct. While they wait, they get paid, some as much as $70,000 a year or more. The city estimates this costs the taxpayer close to $65 million a year.
Finally, we go to the nation's capital. According to Andrew Coulson at Cato@Liberty, Washington D.C. has 44,681 students trapped in its public school system. It has a budget of "$1,291,815,886 during the 2008-09 school year." His calculations put the taxpayer cost per student at $28,900. For some important context, the Heritage Institute calculates the average cost per student in America at $9,266.
For that kind of cash, you would expect some top notch schools. Instead, half of them are failing federal standards. The other half aren't doing that well either.
Here's a little more context for you. The cost of the District of Columbia's Opportunity Scholarship Program was $6,600 per student. The Wall Street Journal noted the success of the program in May:
The Education Department released its annual evaluation of the D.C. program...and it showed that voucher recipients are reading nearly a half-grade ahead of their peers who didn't receive a scholarship. These academic benefits are compounding over time. The study revealed that the program's earliest participants are 19 months ahead of public school peers in reading after three years. Nationwide, black 12th graders as a group score lower on reading tests than white 8th graders. The D.C. voucher program is closing this achievement gap.
Congress just canceled the program.
Only the government could create something, have it be a success for less money than the alternative, then reject it.
Private schools are run like businesses, mainly because they are businesses. They have a bottom line, which makes them more efficient. They also have competition, which makes the look for ways to do the best job they can. They hire the best teachers, keep the student to teacher ratio low, enforce the rules and set goals.
Public schools are full of teachers who want to do their best, but they are up against the giant wall of bureaucracy. That point needs to be made clear. There are teachers working hard to help make their students a success. But is the public school system the best way to make that happen?
It's more expensive, less effective and more dangerous.
The pro-public school crowd will tell you the government has a role in education because the future of the country is the children in America. Therefore, it's important they get a good education. If that is true, the question must be asked: why not educate them in the best way possible?
Like everything else, save our military, the United States government cannot educate the children of America better than the private sector. There is too much politics involved in it. You can't focus solely on the children when you are trying to satisfy the needs of every different special interest that donated to your party or your campaign.
If the goal is truly the education and not the indoctrination of the children, then the responsibility needs to be left to the state, the parents and the private sector. The government cannot commit themselves just to educating the children. The private sector can. They can fire teachers when they break the rules. They can, and will, perform "entirely proper bookkeeping." They will responsibly handle the budget and find the most inexpensive way to give your child a great education.
It's time to stop taxing Americans for the teacher's unions. Let's give the money back to the parent and let them choose what is best for their children. Let the market fight over them, and let the children be the winner. Ultimately, the whole country wins.
Duane Lester's Bio
Duane Lester is a former Navy journalist turned blogger and podcaster. He also writes at All American Blogger and hosts All American Radio on RFC Radio . You can follow him on Twitter at @bodhi1 .
Posted
06-29-2009 8:37 AM
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