November 4, 2005
A Start But In the Wrong Direction
I admit I was shocked to read this article in my paper today: only about 20 percent of Missouri's school districts spend 65% or more of their money on student instruction. Wow. And none in St. Louis County. Missouri spends 60.97 percent on student instruction, the national average is 61.34 percent.
I have to agree with the comments made in this article:
Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, said with all the funding disparities examined by the Special Committee on Education Funding last year, the wide range between what districts spend in the classroom was eye opening.“When you think that more than one-third out of every dollar is going to overhead, I don’t think you could run a business that way, and I don’t think you can run a school that way,” he said.
Of course, that isn't the end all and be all of educational reform. I'd prefer to use vouchers to create a market in education which would mean you wouldn't need that kind of state mandate. All this demand for uniformity and micro-management would be out the window, although I assume we'd still have the never ending funding disputes.
