Where is money for schools actually going?
In our nation’s schools, results for students are stagnating while costs spiral out of control. Despite what you’ve heard, schools are not underfunded, it’s just that funds are not going to the right places.
In the 1960s, it took about 13 students to pay one classroom teacher’s salary. Today, it only takes about 4 students. Where is the rest of the money going?
For decades, instead of investing in innovative technology that can customize education or purchasing proven math and reading curricula, we’ve invested in ever-growing bureaucracies. Class sizes are down, the number of staff and administrators is way up, but teacher salaries and student achievements are flat.
We cannot address these problems until we—and school leaders themselves—know where the money is going. That’s why Cicero’s policy calls for an online, open-checkbook portal that shows every penny spent and every transaction made. This would go a long way in helping parents and the public find ways to shift funding away from what is broken and toward strategies with a proven track record.
In addition to a checkbook portal, school board members and administrators should receive some basic training in how to understand school budgets as well as how to contrast what is spent with how students are performing. They should discuss these topics in a meeting open to the public at least once a year.
Only by better understanding how K-12 funds are spent can improve outcomes improve for students.