In response to Steve’s article this week on Public Schools and Mental Health, “Another Example of Government Trying to Grow to Fix A Problem it Created,” check out Vermont’s data on its public school enrollment.
Grades K thru 12: 72,093
Pre-K: 7843
Keep in mind that Pre-K is for 3, 4, and 5-year-old kids who spend less than 10 hours per week in their respective programs for about half the weeks their K-12 counterparts spend in their respective classes. And Pre-K is most often a ‘tuitioned’ school choice, provided by ‘Private Providers & Contractors’.
My concern rests with the projected total FY25 ‘education system spending of $2.7 Billion’, indicated on pages 2 and 19 of the Agency of Education report cited above. If we take this dollar amount and subtract Pre-K costs, we’re left with $2.666 Billion for K-12 costs. That equals $37,029 per K-12 student spending.
Keep in mind, too, that the VT Agency of Education employs more than 37,000 full-time equivalent staff, from bus drivers to teachers to principals to student interventionists, educating and servicing these students. That’s fewer than two K-12 students per employee, with each employee receiving higher-than-average pay rates and gold-plated benefits. And it makes for a significant voting bloc, too.
My local Vermont school district, one of the more expensive in the State, is spending just north of $28,000 per student, including Special Education, according to our recently published budget to be approved at Town Meeting. But that’s $9,000 per student less than the State per student cost when the 72,093 K-12 students are divided into the ‘projected total education system spending of $2.7 Billion’.
It’s one thing to analyze the financial statements of a school district. My local district financial statement is 22 pages long, with more than 700 spending line items for 193 students. Tough enough. But doable. But it’s another entirely to audit the Vermont Agency of Education budget. Clearly, local control only goes so far. Figuring out that there’s extra fluff of $650 Million in the VT AOE budget is one thing. Determining where it goes is another.
Postscript: As I opined yesterday at VDC, it’s not just Vermont’s out-of-control spending that’s an issue. At last count, more than 50% of Vermont’s high school graduates didn’t meet minimum grade-level standards in reading, writing, math, or science. Not to mention the destruction of the family unit via parental lockout on gender dysphoria and healthcare issues, the quadrupling of drug overdoses over ten years, and the doubling of 15 – 24 year-old suicides last year alone. It’s hard to fathom the extent to which the behavioral breakdown of our societal norms is accelerating. And still, public educators are pointing their fingers at parents, even while they and their legislative enablers do everything they can to prevent those parents from being able to choose the education programs they believe are best for their children.
