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The alleged lack of funding for our K-12 schools has been an ongoing mantra by government bureaucrats and teacher union leaders for decades. The latest freakout revolves around the expiration of the $190 billion in emergency funds given to schools during the COVID pandemic. In a recent move, the U.S. Department of Education has canceled billions of dollars in spending extensions for previously approved ongoing aid.
As new DOE honcho Linda McMahon explained in an April 7 letter, “Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.”
The letter did offer states an opportunity for an extension by reapplying for DOE approvals on a per-contract basis. Still, Democratic leaders in Congress and others are demanding that the DOE immediately reverse its decision.
Front and center in outrage is the National Education Association, which ridiculously asserts that cuts in the DOE’s teaching and learning programs “threaten our success as a nation—today’s students are America’s future leaders and workforce.”
The NEA claims that DOE cuts undermine “its ability to protect students’ rights and provide necessary services—especially for students with disabilities” and that slashing Title I grants will “affect 26 million students nationwide and create big budget holes states could close only by cutting services or raising taxes.”
The union also maintains that any shortfall in federal funding will likely lead to “fewer educators, which for students, means bigger classes, less individual attention, and less support.”
In reality, one doesn’t have to dig too deeply to discover the facts about school funding. What follows is a small sampling of the data available to anyone who seeks the truth instead of the education establishment’s bunkum.
As students slowly trickled back into public schools in 2022 after the COVID shutdowns, the National Center for Education Statistics revealed an increase of 173,000 students in public schools, yet during the same period, a staggering 159,000 employees were hired, including 15,000 additional teachers.
In 2024, due to the infusion of $190 billion in COVID-related funds, there were almost 3,000 school districts nationwide where student enrollment declined while the district added staff.
Most recently, the jobs numbers released on April 7 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show public K-12 employment hit new all-time highs in seasonal and non-seasonally adjusted terms. “While schools are serving fewer students than they did five years ago, they have more employees,” explains school finance researcher Chad Aldeman.
Looking at the big picture, Just Facts reports that in 2023, federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. spent $1.2 trillion on K-12 and secondary education, which amounts to $9,397 for every household in the U.S., adding that’s these numbers don’t include some of the costs of durable items like buildings and computers, and the unfunded liabilities of post-employment non-pension benefits (e.g. health insurance) for government employees.
In addition, the Education Data Initiative discloses that K-12 public schools spend $17,277 per pupil. So, in a class of 25 students, taxpayers are on the hook for $432,000 a year.
Needless to say, there are school district variations in money mismanagement, with Chicago being a particularly egregious example. Between 2017 and 2024, the city’s schools lost 55,000 students while adding 4,200 teachers. And it’s about to get even worse for taxpayers.
As the Illinois Policy Institute reports, the Chicago Teachers’ Union has just reached a contract agreement with the school district that will increase teacher salaries from the current $86,439 to $114,000 by 2027. This pay bump will cost taxpayers up to $1.25 billion.
With numbers like these, one has to wonder how long the spending orgy can last. In fact, things are coming to a head in many districts. In parts of California, the situation is dire. As EdSource’s John Fensterwald writes, “Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward have joined four smaller districts on the five-alarm fire list of the state’s most financially stressed districts—those flirting with insolvency.”
Fensterwald adds that the above districts join 32 others on a second, cautionary list where “there’s smoke but no fiscal flames—yet.”
It’s important to note that more money does not translate into better results. Looking at state-by-state comparisons, Texas—demographically comparable to California—spends about 20% less than the Golden State. Yet, its students scored higher in fourth-grade math proficiency on the 2024 math NAEP test by a 43%-35% margin. Additionally, teacher salaries in California are the fourth highest in the country, while Texas ranks 33rd nationally.
Another education establishment myth is that our classes are too large and that if classes were smaller, students would greatly benefit.
Wrong.
Nationally, class size has been shrinking over time. Since 1921, the student-to-teacher ratio has been reduced from 33:1 to 16:1. The subject was analyzed extensively by Hoover Institution senior fellow and economist Eric Hanushek, who examined 277 studies on the effect of teacher-pupil ratios and class-size averages on student achievement. He found that 15% of the studies showed an improvement in achievement, 72% saw no impact, and 13% found that reducing class size had an adverse effect on achievement. While Hanushek admits that children might benefit from a small-class environment in some cases, there is no way “to describe a priori situations where reduced class size will be beneficial.”
In 2018, a meta-analysis released by Danish researchers looked at 127 studies that have been done on small class size in 41 different countries and found that, at best, the evidence suggests a negligible effect on reading achievement and, at the same time, a negative but statistically insignificant impact on mathematics.
The education establishment is an insatiable beast that is addicted to spending taxpayer dollars. When asked how much money would make them happy, the only honest answer is $MORE.
Larry Sand, a retired 28-year classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues.
