Last night the Atlanta City School Board voted to raise property taxes to cover a budget shortfall, while giving teachers and other school personnel a raise…On a 200,000.00 the additional tax burden (and that’s exactly what it is, an unnecessary burden) will increase by approximately $180 per year. This tax increase is not unique to Atlanta, across the country, communities are raising taxes to fund inefficient, unproductive schools…and what do we have to show for it. The Atlanta schools spend on average over $11,000 per pupil (compared with $12,000 in NYC and $14,000 in LA), yet the Atlanta schools are among the poorest performing in the state, often ranked behind rural communities with significantly less resources. This highlights the continued failure of public schools in America, which are little more than depositories for the inept an unproductive, including teachers and students. As we have noted, money is not the solution to America’s educational woes, raises for inept teachers only reward incompetence, as equally incompetent parents take little or no interest in the success of their offspring.

By some estimates public education accounts for over $400 billion in spending each year with little if anything to show for it. Thus explains how a city like Atlanta can justify raising taxes for raises when the average SAT score is a disgusting 875 (434 math and 441 verbal), far below the state and national average. Sadly the same mediocre performance has been noted in other large cities, including NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc… By contrast in the Atlanta suburb of Cobb county the schools managed an average 1040 SAT score, hardly stellar, but more in line with reason. It begs the question: did the Atlanta students even show up? How can any school explain away such a disgraceful performance? This in and of itself is grounds to shut down the schools and institute a voucher system.

Today, the average American school system spends $7700 per pupil yet the quality of American education continues to trail schools in both the developed and developing world. Only two countries (Switzerland and Austria) in the entire world spend more on education (per pupil) than the US, but the US ranks far from third by most academic measures. The US lags far behind most countries in Europe and East Asia in terms of both mathematical and reading skills. Regardless of this fact, politicians stubbornly insist that schools need more funding, while in reality schools need to become more efficient with the resources they already have at their disposal. Money is not a cure all and it isn’t a substitute for ineffectual parenting (or teaching), indeed nations like South Korea spend far far less per pupil, yet South Korean students eclipse their American counterparts by ever measure. What accounts for the difference…an appreciation for the importance of education, not to mention the fact that schools (and teachers) are evaluated based upon measurable results. Merit pay is one means to ensure students receive a quality education in this country, but it is only a start.
Link to article in AJC

http://www.thephalanx.com/2005/10/why-is-johnny-so-stupid-public.html