Education Spending Out of Control, Wasted

Here is the bottom line, when the public is told the truth, backed by hard facts, they usually respond with intelligent, common sense answers.

But the problem that faces us is a main stream media that has no intention of presenting facts. Their whole existence depends on managed information that fits an agenda. Whether it's global warming, immigration, economics or education, the base line for the progressive media is to manage the information in such a way as to persuade as many people as possible to vote for their personal agenda.

The sad part in this debate is there are many in this country that will vote progressive no matter what, about 20%, but there are a significant number also that don't pay attention to what is going on around them, that are easily moved to believe the misinformation coming from the press.

These people have no idea, or care, about the larger world. It's just easier to believe what you read then having to use some common sense to decide issues. After all 'I'm working hard and have a family to feed, I don't time to waste on stupid stuff like the debt or deficit. America has always been here and it will continue as it always has no matter what'. They believe we are too big to fail.

Maybe they are right, but maybe they are wrong as well. Presently, I suggest we don't hold our collective breaths.


Do We Really Need to Spend More on Schools?
Source: Paul E. Peterson, "Do We Really Need to Spend More on Schools?" Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2011. William Howell, Martin West and Paul E. Peterson, "The 2011 Education Next-PEPG Survey," EducationNext, Fall 2011.

Even as the president was signing the debt-limit bill designed to cut spending last week, he insisted on continuing "to keep making key investments in things like education." Don't be surprised if the president and his allies reiterate this call for more spending in the nation's schools, which they argue is necessary if our students are to remain competitive, says Paul E. Peterson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. At first glance, the public seems to agree with this position.

In a survey released by Education Next, Peterson and his colleagues found 65 percent of the public said they want to spend more on our schools. The remaining 35 percent think spending should either be cut or remain at current levels.

Yet the political reality is more complex than those numbers suggest. When the people surveyed were told how much is actually spent in our schools -- $12,922 per student annually, according to the most recent government report -- then only 49 percent said they want to pony up more dollars.

Later in the same survey, Peterson et al. asked, "Do you think that taxes to fund public schools around the nation should increase, decrease or stay about the same?"
When asked about spending in this way, which addresses the tax issue frankly, Peterson et al. found that only 35 percent support an increase.

Sixty-five percent oppose the idea, saying instead that spending should either decrease or stay about the same.

So there is the nation's debt crisis in a nutshell. If people aren't told that nearly $13,000 is currently being spent per pupil, or if they aren't reminded that there is no such thing as a free lunch, they can be persuaded to think schools should be spending still more, says Peterson.