Breaking DownThe SchoolStaffing Surge Inflation-Adjusted Changes FY 1992-2014 eesUrls Searels Oeaetlelgl Salaries Students Teachers reylaa Staff Recent research reveals America’s public school employment growth dramatically outpaces student enrollment growth. by Dr. Ben Scafidi (NAPSA)—Most parents believe the could have given every teacher a perma- nent $11,100 raise or funded $8,000 per the numberoffull-time teachers increased nearly 2.5 times as quickly as the increase in students, reducing class sizes signifi- year education savings accounts (ESAs) for more than 4 million students. Some say this staffing surge was necessary to improve the academic outcomes of an increasingly disadvantaged student population. Empirical studies, however, found that today’s public school students are slightly more advantaged than in pre- increased more than seven timesthe increase in students. Teachers’ Salaries Down As public schools were hiring more these days are smaller, child poverty is lower and parents tend to be more educated than in the past. Student Achievement Flat Yet public school students’ academic achievement and attainment have stagnated—even fallen—over the past several decades. more personnelthere are in a school, the better the education their kids can get— but this may notbe so. Staffing Up Considerthis: Between 1950 and 2015, cantly. Over that same time, however, the number of nonteachers—administrators, social workers, counselors, reading and math coaches, janitors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, curriculum specialists— and more nonteachingstaff, inflation-ad- justed salaries for public schoolteachers actually fell by 2 percent. Not only did teachers’ salaries stagnate, but they were also more vulnerable to cuts when school budgets were tightened. During the Great Recession, while this staffing surge was briefly and modestly reversed, schooladministrators were about 1.7 times more likely to fire teachers than they wereto fire other administrators or nonteachingstaff. vious generations. For example, families An Answer ‘That's one reason many families em- brace the idea of schoolchoice. In schools, online, at home, with a tutor or through a combination of services, school choice gives caring adults the ability to meet ev- ery childs educational needs, whatever the setting. Learn More Costs Up For further facts and figures on how to create an education system that’s student centered and devotes moreofits resources servative estimate puts the potential sav- www.edchoice.org. Dr. Scafidi is Professor of Economics This explosion in “all other staff” hiring had a huge opportunity cost. A con- ings at $35 billion a year, for a total of $805 billion. With that money, public schools to its frontline talent, its teachers, go to and Director, Education Economics Center, Kennesaw State University.
