In the United States there are probably about 48 million students in secondary education as of school year 2019 per the Bureau of the Census, (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/05/united-states-spending-on-public-schools-in-2019-highest-since-2008.html) and EdWeek, (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/education-statistics-facts-about-american-schools/2019/01) projections in 2024 for 48.7 million. According to the National Center for Education Statistics ( https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28), “In the 2020–21 school year, there were 3.5 million full-time and part-time traditional public school teachers, 251,000 public charter school teachers, and 466,000 private school teachers,” or 3.75M public school teachers (private schools excluded. According to Education Week (updated as of 22 July 2024), (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/education-statistics-facts-about-american-schools/2019/01), using Bureau of Census data, indicates that “Public education in the U.S. is largely financed by state (46.8%) and local (45.3%) sources, while the remaining 7.8% is contributed by federal sources.” Finally, according to the Bureau of the Census (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/05/united-states-spending-on-public-schools-in-2019-highest-since-2008.html), “The nation spent $752.3 billion on its 48 million children in public schools in fiscal year 2019, a 4.7% increase from the previous year and the most per pupil in more than a decade.” This breaks down to ” In FY 2019, state governments contributed the largest share of funding to public school systems: $350.9 billion or 46.7%. Local sources of revenue were the next largest at $342.9 billion or 45.6%, and the federal government contributed the least, $57.9 billion or 7.7%.” {And yes, if you add the numbers there is $.6B missing from the $752.3B above. But at this rate of spending, who will notice $600M?}
And of that $59.7B Federal Spending, making up 7.7% of the total outlays for public secondary schools, the $57.9B expenditure should be compared to the FY2023 budget of $88.3B. Per the Department of Education, (https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/index.html), the FY19 budget was $163B in total, of which $90.6B was for the “Federal Direct Student Loan Program,” leaving $72.3B for the Department’s other expenses, including support to secondary public schools. [This compares to the FY23 budget of $169.9B in total, of which $88.3B was for student loans, for a remaining budget of $81.6B, or an 11.4% increase.]
So you are asking at this point, what are you saying? Assuming any have followed to this point. I know the modern attention span is between 10 – 60 seconds mostly dependent on age. However, knowing that if you were reading something I wrote in the first place you are significantly above the average in intelligence, attention span, and of course taste, I expect there might be a few who have lingered. I drag this out no further.
I was cruising through FB today when I came across a post (by The New Resistance) about a second grade teacher in Arizona who posted her pay stub online in order to decry the poor salary she earned (https://taphaps.com/elisabeth-coate-milich-teacher-24b/). She earns $35,000 per year, which if you follow the link is below the Arizona average of $47,000, and below the National average of $58,000. This started me thinking.
As an aside from my reason for writing this note, there is an entire debate about the nature and value of teaching that I thought of delving into. At some point we need to think through the concept of relative worth for specific endeavors of employment. When it comes to ANY job financed by public spending (i.e. tax dollars), then it deserves especial consideration. Quality, quantity, accountability, prerequisite job requirements, are all words that should come to your mind.
Regardless of all of that my main thought in this note concerns the cost versus the distribution. To this I remembered the story from 20 years ago, though not the amounts, of a school district superintendent and a principal and their salaries in the Dayton Ohio area compared to the average teacher’s salary. All I remember is it wasn’t a pretty comparison, the point of which is not to denigrate the different responsibilities and scope of necessary management positions, nor the idea there should be greater compensation for those tasks, but rather to draw attention to the bureaucratic establishment within public education where a significant portion of your school tax dollars are expended.
Looking at the numbers above (and it is granted that the number of public school teachers above is from school year 20-21 while the expenditures on public schools are from 2019, but won’t make much difference) it seems the United States is spending $752B on public secondary education while employing 3.75 public school teachers. In theory those teachers could be earning $200,000 a year.
We all know that the cost of labor is very significant in any industry or service. According to “Zippia, The Career Expert,” (https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-labor-cost-statistics/), “The average labor cost is typically 20-35% of gross sales, depending on the industry, and Public schools have the highest labor cost in the U.S., amounting to $545.8 billion annually.”
On the EdWeek site (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-staffing-by-the-numbers/2022/06), citing 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total secondary public school workforce consists of the following:
Total employed: 8 million
Total Teachers/Assistance, Library: 5.28 million (66%)
Management: 350,000 people (4 %
Admin Support: 500,000 (6%)
Building, Ground Cleaning/Maintenance: 330,000 (4%)
Food Preparation/Service: 315,000 (4%)
Other occupations: 1.2 million (15%) [transportation, health care, and financial operations jobs]
How does the money flow to these labor areas: (citing 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from the EdWeek web post which is not all inclusive of the categories above)
Teachers (3.6 million): Annual mean wage of $67,680
Teaching Assistants (1 million): Annual average of $32,170
Administrators: Annual average of $102,760
(Cooks/Food Prep (150,000): Annual average of $29,000
Bus Drivers (190,000): Annual average of $36,000
Offhand we see a difference of 850,000 “teachers” between the Census data (at 3.75M), and the BLS (4.6M). We also see the BLS estimate of “average” teacher wages at $67,680 compared to the $58,000 National average cited above from the “Taphap.com” website cited above. Why don’t we split the difference on number of teachers at 4.175M (rather than choose sides between Census and BLS), and go with the seemingly more authoritative annual teacher income of $67,680, over Taphaps.com. This means “teachers” consume $282.5B annually out of the $752.3B budget, or 37.5% of the entire “public school budget.” It also would mean they are consuming only 51.7% of the total labor budget of $545.8B per Zippia above.
School spending is $752.3B, “labor” is $545.8B, “teachers” are $282.5B annually. We have $206.5B remaining from total expenditures which apparently pays for the buses, buildings, utilities for the 99,388 actual public schools (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/education-statistics-facts-about-american-schools/2019/01), or $2.1M per school, per year, on average.
Where all this monkeying around with various numbers leads is to evaluate that on average it does not seem teachers are woefully underpaid. I know, everyone reading thus far (which includes probably only myself), knows a teacher, is a teacher, and is highly insulted by the idea that teachers are probably properly compensated. It goes against the holy grail, against the uniform cliches and preformatted arguments that teachers deserve more. Never mind. On average, it is an occupation that is not highly underpaid.
What is somewhat apparent is there is a massive infrastructure which consumes enormous sums of money for purposes difficult to evaluate. It also apparent from reading pay schedules for various districts there is a premium on higher education which directly relates to compensation for a teacher. Given the fact most educators are obtaining degrees in education it makes it a very questionable proposition that our secondary school systems needs theoretical technical experts of the art of teaching, compared to actual proficiency in the areas for which a teacher is to teach. How many math students fail to comprehend math because a teacher with an Education degree is leading them into the branch of knowledge in mathematics, yet can barely comprehend it himself? Or how many millions of graduated students are completely jaded on the value of the study of history because a high percentage of Education Major graduates, who also happen to coach a sports team, are the “history teachers,” when they know or care nothing of history?
What about Outcome Based Expectations? For instance, that a child graduating from a reading class by the third grade can read with excellence 100% of the time? The same NCES cited earlier, in a different post (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1), discusses “The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has measured the performance of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science literacy every 3 years since 2000. In 2022, PISA was administered in 81 countries and education systems, including 37 member countries of the OECD. In 2022, there were 5 education systems with higher average reading literacy scores for 15-year-olds than the United States, 25 with higher mathematics literacy scores, and 9 with higher science literacy scores.” Further, as a point of reference, the United Kingdom had an overall score of 489, the United States had 465, a 34 point difference. There were over 22 countries greater than US in overall score (excepting those within statistical insignificance), and 42 below.
Data on expenditures from the United Kingdom (https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics) based on 2023-2024 data, “On a per-pupil basis the total funding allocated to schools for 5-16 year old pupils, in cash terms, in 2024-25 was £7,690.” Using a 9 September 2024 conversion rate of $1 to £0.76, that £7,690 is equal to $10,060. Compare that to the $15,441 per pupil cost spent in this country (using the 48.7M students and the $752B budget figures from above). We are spending 53% more per pupil than is the United Kingdom with the result of achieving a 34 point deficit in the PISA rankings (above) looking at reading, mathematics and science. Seem like an achievement?
The training model for teachers is a problem. The infrastructure monolith with its legions of labor costs for everything except teaching is a problem. The lack of accountability over the outcomes of teaching is a problem as is judged by the PISA scores and relative spending between the UK and the US as a single example, or the fact one source indicates the US is 36th in rank in overall literacy (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/literacy-rate-by-country). The existence of an $88B Department of Education that teaches NO students, and creates massive infrastructure, rules to be followed by all school districts, and bureaucratic red tape requiring legions of local school experts to understand their dictates is a massive problem.
The problem with teacher compensation is that it is virtually always conducted as an isolated, anecdotal conversation about teachers not being paid enough, which again is a real issue that should be objectively evaluated, without any context about the who and why going into who teaches or how they are trained. Or into the greater objectives of an educational system that has been allowed to pursue multiple goals for which education is no where in sight. Next time you see the county referendum on increasing your millage rate on property to pay for schools, think about not just why, but where is the money going? Who is holding teachers accountable for actually educating? And who oversees or holds accountable all those millions of others running the school systems, including the useless Department of Education?
Simplify the structure, focus on EDUCATION in the schools with primary emphasis on the basics which get and keep people on their feet forever (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, with healthy doses of American Civics and Home Economics), get the Federal government 100% out of the education equation, and reduce the mechanics back to the State and especially local control. Bigger is NOT always better, especially where government is involved.
Just for comparison, and my opinion that the ENTIRE Federal government is unaccountable, out of control, and has not supervision or accountability, the DoD had an $816B budget for FY23 with 1.3M active duty members (2022), and 803,000 DoD civilians. Per a Defense Business Board study in FY18, labor accounted for 59% of DoD’s budget, which includes 24% for “contracted services,” at $141.7B, greater than civilian ($71.5B) or Active Duty military ($136.7B) categories.
But to end this piece on a positive note, if you were the Cobb County Georgia Superintendent in 2019 you would be getting $350,000, or in Dekalb County GA $325,000 in 2023. So it isn’t all doom and gloom within the school systems. Some people are doing quite well.
