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LESS THAN 44% OF $8.4 BILLION WENT TO CLASSROOMS
The lackluster performance of South Carolina’s public schools continues to deteriorate with each passing school year.
But you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the amount of money that flows through what amounts to an ATM machine for bureaucrats.
Numbers released by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board showed that public schools across the state spent $8.4 billion in 2008. That number is up 4.5 percent from the previous year.
The figures, published by the Office of Research and Statistics in the 2008 “Local Government Finance Report,” showed that South Carolina’s 85 public school districts actually exceeded their annual rate of spending growth despite the highly publicized local and state budget cuts.
Yet results continue to lag.
Less than 44 cents per dollar actually makes it to the classroom. The state has a pathetic 55.6 percent graduation rate. And State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex openly refers to school as “dropout factories.”
Not surprisingly, the 2008 report reflected those exact same failed spending practices.
The reported indicated that the largest growth occurred for school and district administration spending, which grew 8.5 percent in a single year to $2.7 billion. In the same period, instructional spending increased only 7 percent to $3.7 billion.
The average funding per pupil shot up to $12,258.18 for each of the 690,000 students in the state.
One link that people seem to miss is that performance in schools is often linked to a stable home environment. A recent article published in the Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/yf6l3wa) expounded on this issue, making a clear distinction between students who live in two parent homes versus those who don’t and how that difference impacts school performance. It argues that the more stable home environment – particularily the presence of a father – is a key factor in child’s educational success. Why are legislators not seeing this themselves and funding programs that enhance stable family formation rather than slapping yet another coat of paint on a wall? As long as we only treat the symptoms rather than the actual problem, sustained results will not be seen.
Google “Hopeless Causes”