High School Notes

Taxpayers: More Money Won't Improve Education

April 28, 2011 RSS Feed Print

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Almost three quarters of taxpayers think they aren't getting their money's worth from the public education system, according to a new poll.

The Rasmussen poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, found that 41 percent of people believe putting more money into the system won't improve student performance, but 54 percent believe the government does not spend enough on public education.

In 2008, America spent about $9,000 per student, with about half of that money coming from state taxes and 44 percent coming from local taxes. The federal government only spends about 8 percent of that money, an average of about $700 per student.

With budget cuts in many states, school districts are having to streamline their operations. A recent study by the Alliance for Excellent Education found that improving the high school dropout rate would pump billions of dollars into the economy.

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Tags:: education,; taxes,; education policy

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Funding education is one of the most important expenses a society can do to contribute to the future. Increasing instead of decreasing funding for education is long overdue.
In my mind, eduction comes through having good teachers. Teaching is not about the buildings as much as about the people. A good teacher can teach in many locations: outside in a field, in a warehouse, in a garage, in someones living room.
Good teaching is not so much about the books as about how the material is used. Kids are smart. If they are bored, how will we challenge them? If they are not paying attention to one subject, how can that subject become interesting and useful to them?
Better education will come when we find and keep creative teachers in all subjects.

robin of OR 4:09PM September 12, 2011

In any case, we don't spend smart. Our schools are full of goofy, counterproductive methods. In effect, our schools try very diligently NOT to do too good a job, just as John Dewey proposed a century ago.
This isn't hard to understand. Surely, somewhere in your life you observed someone going through the motions but not actually trying to reach the ostensible goal. Bingo. (In this case, that's because the real goal is social engineering.)
You want better schools? Simple. Get rid of the dumb ideas. Bring back an emphasis on knowledge, facts, basics, and mastery. The Three R's have never been more important, or more abused.
This country has 50,000,000 functional illiterates. What else do you need to know about the people in charge?
Bruce Deitrick Price
Improve-Education.org

Bruce Deitrick Price of VA 2:55PM May 02, 2011