The cost of education is $24,000 per student? WOW!

I have the Town Aid for Education from the Town Manager’s proposed budget and now can compute the gross the cost of education in Windsor.  Please sit tight…. Education on a per student basis has grown to between about $21,000 per student to $24,000 per student, on average, depending upon whether you want to adjust for Magnet schools.  The lower number includes the magnet school students and the higher number removes the students and the costs for them.

I will repeat this again, education is very emotional for parents.  They fear and attack anything they think or believe might hurt their child, and we should not expect less.  Some parents are also fearful that making waves might create a backlash against their child.  The problem is that stakeholders (those paid via the system) can easily twist ideas with a fear element, and then emotion – checks - logic.  If your job was at stake wouldn’t you spread fear in hopes of protecting your job?  Absolutely!  Did we not hear those rumblings with the sequester, or for that matter any cut in public spending anywhere?  Parents must think about what is happening, and consider that stakeholders have a desire to continue the current system because it benefits them, and in many cases, VERY well.  

The education system gets benefits or money to run its business of educating children, regardless of results.  Consider that for a minute.  A mechanic does a lousy job of fixing your car, and gets paid well.  Would you go back to that mechanic?  NO!  If that is an approach that works for you and all the kids, then you should be thrilled with the current system. In education you have no choice without moving or paying for a private education, is that fair?  In the car concept you can go back to the shop, and say fix it! or go to another shop, in education you can’t.  The big problem is that in education you can’t say “do it over”!

Note I do not think it is the teachers that are the problem, granted some are, as in any large business organization, it is the entirety of the system that is the problem.  It is a combination of Parkinson’s law [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law] and the Peter Principle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle]. Consider that in business, the profit motive forces efficiency, but in government there is no check on efficiency.  Parkinson ‘noted in particular that the total of those employed inside a bureaucracy rose by 5-7% per year "irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done"’.   I ask readers to contemplate that idea for a minute.  What check is there on Government spending at any level?  You the voter!, and in CT those few fiscal conservatives.   

Since the 1990’s we have seen one party rule in Windsor and CT, and since 2000-‘01 an explosion in per pupil costs (+127%), a declining enrollment (-28%), an increase in the BoE budget (+63%) that is a multiple of the inflation rate (32%), and the only measurement that is supposed to be objective, test scores, have fallen consistently. There was a upward bump when they changed the methodology, and then they started falling again. Minority students are most harmed, and yet we get lip service from the Democrats, and no clear action plan.

Consider per pupil costs in only the BoE budget from $6,327/pupil in 1993-'94, to $8,612/pupil in 2000-'01, to an explosion of $19,517/pupil in 2013-'14, (inflation adjusted 2000-01 costs would be $11,611.) [http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm]. 

Parents consider with these high costs what Parental Choice would do to benefit you, and your child.  Taxpayers consider what this would mean to you!  I have a fair proposal that would work for the MOST IMPORTANT stakeholders… the STUDENTS!!!!,  someone just needs to ask.

Consider one party rule for a minute.  Maybe the readers should consider for a few minutes that the education system and Democratic politics are tightly intertwined. This does not benefit the kids, if it was for the kids benefit we would not be having this conversation. Maybe what we see is the fact that the Democrats have failed their minority constituency, taxpayers, and more importantly, the students, the ones that really matter. They have however benefited those that are paid via the system. The Republicans on the Board of Education are blameless, as they do not control the agenda. Remember you need 5 votes and it is almost always 5 D’s, together. So if you do not like what you see, you have 2 choices. Continue to vote Democratic and see poor results and say higher costs and poor performance are acceptable to you; the other option is to vote for change and vote Republican.  What do you have to lose? A poor School system that is unresponsive, that is not open to new ideas, is willing to throw more money at the problem without results, and is not transparent.

Lastly, I would ask parents to consider a private elementary education at Windsor private schools is running under $6,000 per year, vs. Windsor Public Schools at ~$24,000 per year, or the cost of some secondary private schools at ~$15,000 per year. Parents, what are you getting for that money?, The best possible education system?, It is finally time for change?, YES!  

Albert Einstein once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".  Think about this quote for a second and ask yourself, does this quote apply to the way our schools are being run?