Does the US spend enough money on education?

Question

I know education spending is one of, if not the biggest part of the US budget, but there are alot of criticisms regarding the decline of our schools, (specifically inner city schools where most of the money goes). Does anyone think more funding is the answer? Does anyone have another answer?

Answer 1

The answer is not just to throw money at this problem. There is a LOT of waste, corruption and incompetence on the part of many public school boards, and no real control of the excessive demands, incompetence, corruption and poor performance on the part of many public school teachers, principals, and the teachers' unions.

The current administrations, both federal and state (in some states) are attempting to change this, but much has to be done through legislation and that is an uphill battle due to devisiveness of the political parties on this critical issue.

Answer 2

More money is not the answer; The teachers would say yes the unions would say yes and the superintendents would say yes. But the taxpayer will always say no. And no one pays the same amount. They tax you on the value of your home and that is wrong. Your home value should have nothing to do with funding schools. it's just the easiest way to get money from you. Just so they can spend it, or give it away. Take a good look at your local schools and the board of education building. The teachers only work 180 days a year, that is only 6 months. There is a break at thanksgiving and for x-mass and then there is something called winter break and how about spring break. All of these breaks are there just so there isn't enought time to have a summer session. the rest of the year the buildings sit vacant, If you had a business could you still be in business if you were open 180 days a year. I think not. I also really believe that if you are over 65 you should not have to pay any school tax. you have already payed enough.
All you heard now from the teachers is the kids have to go to college, what do they teach the kids if more eduction is needed. when you ask your kids what did they learn in school today they always say nothing!!!!

Answer 3

Education makes up a minuscule portion of the federal budget. To be fair, however, it is the biggest budget item for most states.

There are some basic infrastructure problems that could be solved with more funding: how is anyone supposed to be focuses on learning when the roof is leaking or the heaters don't work?

That aside, the real problem is teacher recruitment. We hear lots of complaining about bad teachers & those that keep bad teachers employed, but where are we going to get good teachers from? They don't grow on trees. The only way to get the best and brightest of our young people to become teachers is to make the profession competitive with other more glamorous and high-paying jobs. That will cost taxpayers money, but the benefits to our economy & the taxpayers in it will more than pay for it in time (Remember that the GI Bill after WWII played a large role in the economic boom that the U.S. experienced during the 50s.)

I remember reading a study in 1988 that ~86% of all public high school teachers came from the bottom 1/4 of their own high school classes. How are our nation's kids supposed to get a good education from the "D" students of the previous generation??? Any improvement to the public educational system that doesn't improve teacher recruiting in a direct & immediate fashion will be an incremental improvement, at best.

Answer 4

Hmm, well it's not how much you spend on education. Some recent studies claim that USA is getting a poor return for its educational money it spends compared to most other nations.
More likely the way you are teaching your students is to blame, programs such as "no child left behind" and so forth.
Reflect on this, though Finland doesn't spend as much of their budget on Education as USA, it still manages to guarantee everyone a free education encompassing primary school to University. And these comparatively "low-budget" schools apparantly doing their job as Finns consistently score in the top ranks of international tests of student skills in languages and maths.

Answer 5

the US is 5th in the world in education spending

but 29th in the world in education standards(behind third world countires) , because of poor learning

The awnser is the teachers union, they put up with bad teachers, which the school can not fire because its a union, and good teachers and bad teachers and even mediocore teachers get paid the same, there is no incentive to teach well

Answer 6

No, obviously not if we're behind in math and science.

Answer 7

No...!