Re: Tax Frustration

Funny, I've been thinking about this very same thing.

We’ve been over all this before. We’ll go over it all again. In five years (2000 to 2004), per-student spending went from $8,618 to $10,505.

Over the same period, the student-teacher ratio fell from just over 13 students per teacher to just over 12.8.

That’s not the same as class size – class sizes are actually larger. But just for kicks, let’s say it is the same. Rounding up to 13 students, at $10,505 per kid: that’s $136,565 per classroom.

Enough to hire two full time teachers (at 2004 compensation levels), with $7,500 left over.

Let’s imagine an elementary school with kindergarten through 6th grade, three classrooms per grade. The leftover money (after we hire two full-time teachers per grade) adds up to $157,521. Enough for a principal and receptionist, maybe a janitor, too.

And that’s if we double the number of teachers we actually have.

That’s part of why I’m frustrated: just perusing the numbers, I can’t imagine why we aren’t already spending enough. They shouldn’t need to ask us for more.

And yet, they are. And if you disagree, you're a jerk.

Frustrating.