In over 20 years of my research on public education, it’s easy to see how federal dollars are flushed down the toilet. There is plenty of money being spent by the federal government that does nothing to improve education, but also assists in its demise.
DOGE is the new federal Department Of Government Efficiency that is set to look for wasteful spending by the federal government. They have their work cut out for them.
When it comes to education spending, the U.S. Department of Education spent $79.6 billion for fiscal year 2023. Where did that money go?
What if this money is actually hurting public education instead of helping it? Looking at the latest international scores on the international (TIMSS) Math and Science exam, U.S. students are not making any progress when it comes to their peers in other countries.
Public schools have moved away from focusing on academic excellence. Good luck even finding a public school with this kind of commitment, most are busy trying to please the Feds now. Got to keep that money flowing.
No Child Left Behind forced schools to focus on academics but that law was replaced by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Looking at the international scores in math and science shows us that all of this federal intervention and money, isn’t moving the needle in a positive direction. No longer do they care about academic outcomes, the focus is now on the culture and climate.
We have federal money coming in to schools to transform public schools into mental and medical clinics. We have Social and Emotional Learning focused on student behaviors because teachers are now saddled with trying to manage a classroom with little or no back up from administrators.
While kids wait for an opening in the ONE mental health facility in New Hampshire, schools are becoming mini mental health clinics run by counselors who are not qualified to administer mental health treatment. We might have kids sitting in a hospital bed in Manchester for a week waiting for an opening at Hampstead Hospital where they treat children with psychiatric or behavior disorders. Money that is desperately needed to treat children, has been funneled into the public schools.
Schools are opening up School Based Clinics too. In Manchester, medical services for children are now provided through Amoskeag Health. We were told that Obamacare had to be passed in order to provide medical care to those who need it. Now we are being told that that’s not good enough. We. have to pay for an actual school based clinic to serve students while they are in school. Just to the north of us in In Maine, parents are finding that their children are being serviced without their knowledge or consent. These clinics take medical staff away from hospitals and doctors who are already short-staffed.
Now schools employ drug and alcohol counseling where students can see a counselor during the day in school. School staff will tell you that there really isn’t any privacy when a student walks in to see the counselor. What used to be confidential is now available for everyone in the school to see. Just a visit to the Drug and Alcohol counselor by a student, and staff and other students see what’s going on.
DOGE has a lot on their plate. Cutting all of these federal grants that neuter local control would be a good start. Medical, mental health, drug and alcohol counseling may certainly be needed for some students, but all of this should be kept separate from a public school.
