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saw this on a web site today:

"I’ve been thinking about this and I figured out a brilliant way to decide how much funding to give our public schools. We live in a representational democracy, so it should be up to Congress. But here’s how they need to do it.

First, a questionnaire needs to be given to each Senator and Representative. Here are the questions:

1. Do you have children? (If no, end of questionnaire.)  
2. Are any of your children currently school age (K-12)? If not and they are older, please answer by referring to when they were school age and translate any dollar amounts into 2011 dollars. If not and they are younger, please answer according to the plans you have for their schooling, again using 2011 dollars.
3. Do your children attend public school, private school, or homeschool?
4. If public school, what is the per-pupil spending, including private fundraising, for students at that school?
5. If private school, what is the annual tuition (sticker price)?
6. If homeschool, what is the total annual cost of materials, enrichment activities, and instruction (instruction meaning the cost of private tutors and/or the lost wages of the parent who stays home and teaches)?
That is the questionnaire. Every member of Congress answers it, and then we total up the answers to questions 4-6 and divide by number of Yes responses to question 1.

We then have the average annual amount of money that Congress feels is appropriate to spend to educate one child. Congress then passes a law funding our public schools to the tune of that amount of spending per pupil.

And voila, we have a system for funding our schools that reflects the true feelings of our elected representatives. "

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actually, we (americans) are supposed to live in a federal republic, but that's neither here nor there.

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Well right now we are spending $500 billion per year on education.
We have 55,203,000 kids in school as of 2010.
Of those, only 85% go to public funded schools.
That means we spend $106558.57/per child

Lotta money for nothing in return.

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For me, the big question is...of the money spent on education here, how much actually makes it into the classroom?  

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Originally Posted by Dennis Young:
For me, the big question is...of the money spent on education here, how much actually makes it into the classroom?  

My mother works for a charter academy that took over a traditionally extremely low performing school.  The company she works for receives the same amount of funds from the state per student as any other public school.  The charter allegedly spends as much per student as had previously been spent.  The difference it their profit.  I'm not sure what the number is, but for this to be a profitable enterprise a decent amount must be lost somewhere between Sacramento and the class room.

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I dont understand why the NEA is against charter schools.  To me they sound like a pretty good plan.  

My mom (and 2 aunts) taught at public schools.  I can remember a case where my mom (vice principal at the time) saw the principal spend school funds on a $1000 vacuum cleaner.  IT was meant to be for the school.  It wound up in his own home.

That $1000 meant for the kids never made it to the classroom.  And I've heard other stories where money meant for classrooms in public school never make it to the classroom.  We spend and spend and spend on education, yet I hear test scores get lower and lower and kids still fail or drop out.  I dont think money is the answer anymore.

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Originally Posted by Dennis Young:
I dont understand why the NEA is against charter schools.  To me they sound like a pretty good plan.  

My mom (and 2 aunts) taught at public schools.  I can remember a case where my mom (vice principal at the time) saw the principal spend school funds on a $1000 vacuum cleaner.  IT was meant to be for the school.  It wound up in his own home.

That $1000 meant for the kids never made it to the classroom.  And I've heard other stories where money meant for classrooms in public school never make it to the classroom.  We spend and spend and spend on education, yet I hear test scores get lower and lower and kids still fail or drop out.  I dont think money is the answer anymore.

I think charter schools are a waste of money.  Their profit is money that the state had meant to go to the students.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:

I think charter schools are a waste of money.  

not if they're not "traditionally underperforming" anymore.

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and we know where alot of this money goes. the teacher's unions.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:

Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:

I think charter schools are a waste of money.  

not if they're not "traditionally underperforming" anymore.

My mothers school has improved quite a bit, but its still not doing incredibly well.  Why?  Because most of the parents and the community still refuse to take an active part in their children's education.  The difference the at charter made was changing the curriculum used and investing in sending teachers to trainings.  Not only are those things that could (and should) be done by the public school district, but they are things that could be done cheaper by the district.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:
  Not only are those things that could (and should) be done by the public school district, but they are things that could be done cheaper by the district.

were it not for the pesky bureaucracy that goes along with public education.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:

Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:
  Not only are those things that could (and should) be done by the public school district, but they are things that could be done cheaper by the district.

were it not for the pesky bureaucracy that goes along with public education.

And I think you just hit the problem right on the head.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
and we know where alot of this money goes. the teacher's unions.

Unless I'm mistaken, 100% of the union's revenue comes from the members pay check, not from the state.

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Do teachers at charter schools have tenure?