Public School Con

OK, New York State spends over $16,000 per student in the public schools. This means each teacher is paid by the presence of three to four students. New Jersey is right behind New York at $15,691 per student. There is an article about this below about this.

From my experience the average class above the fourth grade or so is 25. The younger classes seem bigger, but that could be an impression owing to the chaos therein. So, where does the other money go? Not taxes. There are a few non-teachers to pay and a Rube Goldberg infrastructure designed to meet everyone's "rights", but so? Where is the money?

So, you say, New Yorkers want to spend this extra money, that places like Utah ($5,683) just produce imbeciles, unlike New York...

NYT: The average scores among New York State students in the class of 2007 were 491 in critical reading and 505 in math.

I didn't come across any PR pages for Utah, like NY's, but the Department of Ed did mention in passing that the Utah SAT scores continued above the national average. Perhaps, you can find the numbers. Don't forget the SAT was curved up a good ten years ago.

I guess money isn't the answer, is it?

Vice President Biden recently passed through Albany, NY, the principal of the public school he visited was not permitted to meet him. Biden announced that more teachers would be hired and none would lose their jobs thanks to the Obama plan. (Applause) Just another example of people voting themselves money. Taxpayers are buying votes for the union and socialists; teachers are not even aware they are being used. When I was picking juries, I never selected a teacher, but that is another story.

I looked quickly into the parochial school system. In the Brooklyn diocese 14 schools are being set to close, they are not getting enough students. One reason is the high tuition average of $3,500. I would think the diocese contributes to the cost, as well.

The NEA and AFT know exactly what they doing. They have to kill off the private and parochial schools because they can do a better job for little money. The private schools are being forced into oblivion. The next generation of "higher ed" will be populated by increasingly amoral drones. People love to look to Canada for inspiration, so do so. In Ontario, where I lived, the province PAID private schools.

Don't bother with the argument that private schools have better students because they reject problem children, the old canard. That was put to bed when Giuliani, as mayor, agreed to send students to the catholic schools, at half the cost, when the NY diocese called the "won't take bad children" bluff. Within three days the teachers union had that deal killed. You can look it up.

While you are at it, there was an interview in Wired many years ago, 1996 I think, with Steve Jobs who said he sent his son to one of the best schools in the world in San Francisco that was $600 more than the local public school, per student. I pray you get his point.

Monday, July 27, 2009, 10:21am EDT | Modified: Monday, July 27, 2009, 12:43pm

NY leads nation in school spending; $16K per student

The Business Review (Albany)

New York's public schools spend more per pupil than the schools do in any other state, according to a report issued Monday morning by the You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

" height="13" width="13">U.S. Census Bureau.

Spending in New York translated to $15,981 per pupil in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available.

That's 1.8 percent higher than the runner-up, New Jersey, where the public schools spent $15,691 per student. The District of Columbia is third at $14,324.

The states that spend the least per pupil are Utah ($5,683), Idaho ($6,625) and Tennessee ($7,113).

The U.S. average was $9,666 per student in 2007. New York was 65 percent above the national norm.

In the Albany, N.Y., area, read The Business Review's profiles of "The Top 5."

To read about spending cuts at local schools, click here.

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There are few homeschooling statistics that I could find. The government had a report in 2003. This is a sign it works for a low cost. Let me quote an excerpt of a 1997 study below. You cans see why the establishment is actively anti-homeschooling. Please, don't tell me about "socialization, as though that means something. You get great socialization on 125 St in Harlem. If anyone tells me there are bad people in the world, so you may as well become one of them (or is it go to an amoral school with them), I may punch you.

1. In 1997, a study of 5,402 homeschool students from 1,657 families was released. It was entitled, "Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America." The study demonstrated that homeschoolers, on the average, out-performed their counterparts in the public schools by 30 to 37 percentile points in all subjects. A significant finding when analyzing the data for 8th graders was the evidence that homeschoolers who are homeschooled two or more years score substantially higher than students who have been homeschooled one year or less. The new homeschoolers were scoring on the average in the 59th percentile compared to students homeschooled the last two or more years who scored between 86th and 92nd percentile. ⁱ

This was confirmed in another study by Dr. Lawrence Rudner of 20,760 homeschooled students which found the homeschoolers who have homeschooled all their school aged years had the highest academic achievement. This was especially apparent in the higher grades. ⁱⁱ This is a good encouragement to families catch the long-range vision and homeschool through high school.

Another important finding of Strengths of Their Own was that the race of the student does not make any difference. There was no significant difference between minority and white homeschooled students. For example, in grades K-12, both white and minority students scored, on the average, in the 87th percentile. In math, whites scored in the 82nd percentile while minorities scored in the 77th percentile. In the public schools, however, there is a sharp contrast. White public school eighth grade students, nationally scored the 58th percentile in math and the 57th percentile in reading. Black eighth grade students, on the other hand, scored on the average at the 24th percentile in math and the 28th percentile in reading. Hispanics scored at the 29th percentile in math and the 28th percentile in reading. ⁱⁱⁱ