Over the past fifty years, the Federal Department of Education has received trillions of dollars which is then given back to the States with numerous strings. When it was first formed, the budget for the department was about ten billion dollars, but in the latest budget it has increased to over one-hundred, eighty-five billion ($185,629,999,000). What have we received for those funds except to expand the number of Federal government bureaucrats who have a job for life?
Is there a better way to educate children? Is there a less expensive way which can give us at a minimum, the same results and hopefully, better educated young people. We know that in city after city the test scores in reading and math are abysmal. Yet, year after year we increase local budgets for schools as we are told by “educators” that the problem is a lack of funding. To add insult to injury, we are requested to (in some states which allow voter participation) for new bond issues which add billions in debt with no accountability.
Who are the winners in this system? Certainly, the teachers and their unions. Also, the Federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education. Let us not forget the politicians who receive almost unlimited bounty from teachers’ unions. When was the last time you saw a local politician, or one at any level, vote against those who feed them, the teachers unions?
The link below provides an alternative idea for school funding. If implemented, could it fail? Could it possibly be worse than the quagmire that we have today in our educational system? It provides something to consider that I am sure will be attacked by the same “educators” who have created the failure that we have today.
