Did you know? Under the current budget, more taxpayer dollars (44.4%) go to education than anything else. ( $12,881,454,100)
We have 425 K12 school districts, which includes approximately 2,047 public schools and 875,000 students. We also have 13 four-year university campuses, 13 two-year UW satellite campuses, and 16 Technical Colleges. There are approximately 153,000 students in the 4-year universities, about 15,000 in the 2-year universities (most of these need to be closed, maybe in Walker's 2nd, 3rd, or 4th terms he can deal with these), and approximately 125,000 FTE's in the WI Technical College System. These number do not include any private schools, only public.
I know WEAC and others in the education establishment are always complaining they're woefully underfunded, but do the math.
$12,881,454,100 divided by 1,168,000 students is $11,028.64 per student. But this is just the portion funded by state taxes.
$12,881,454,100 divided by 1,168,000 students is $11,028.64 per student. But this is just the portion funded by state taxes.
The above number doesn't even count the remaining 55.6% that comes from property taxes. Wouldn't that be another $16.394 billion? Wouldn't that be $29.2 billion or so? Wouldn't that be $25,000 per student?
And again, this doesn't include any non-public schools--either K12 or colleges and universities--whose parents obviously pay much more. Choice program students may throw off the numbers a little bit, but you get the idea. This is just some kitchen table analysis using my 2008 Higher Education Directory and 2007 QED K12 Directory for the enrollments, and adding about 3% growth to each segment since it's now 2011-12 school year. And using the Governor's tweet.
I realize there's building maintenance, transportation, education materials, and other expenses in a very large, complex, and generally good education system. But again, what are people complaining about? Are they saying we can't educate our kids for $29.2 billion annually? If we raised it to $35 billion would kids learn better? Would more kids graduate from MPS high schools if we spent $40 billion?
Like minimum wage advocates, no matter what the amount, it's never enough. And of course, the end results don't really change. MPS will continue to struggle, and Hartland Arrowhead will continue to do well. But this kind of budget is how your workers get to retire at age 55, enjoy tax payer funded pensions and healthcare, work 190 days per year, and so on.
Remember, it's for the children...
