Educational Efficiency

While I was reading one of the chapters in my text today, I came across this quote that struck me. It was something that I have felt for quite some time, but now I actually have the research to back it up.

"While total instructional expenditures per pupil went up 64 percent between 1960 and 1980, spending on administration and other noninstructional matters rose 107 percent. The number of non-classroom instructional personnel in our school systems grew by 400 percent between 1960 and 1984. And during those years, money spent on teacher salaries dropped from over 56 percent to under 41 percent of total elementary ans secondary school spending. Too much money has been diverted from the classrooms; a smaller share of the school dollar is now being spent on student classroom instruction than at any time in recent history. It should be the basic goal of the education reform movement to reverse this trend toward administrative bloat and to reduce the scale of the bureaucratic "blob" draining our school resources."

-William J. Bennett, Former Secretary of Education (1988)

I have thought for quite some time that in the education industry there is quite a bit of waste going on with funds provided. (probably true for all government agencies) If you look at successful businesses, they are very efficient with their funds, there is little to no waste. It's all about reducing the bottom line. In our district particularly there has been much complaint about too many administrators at the district level who don't really do anything. Jobs being done by three people that could just as well be done by one. And these jobs being done at 6 figure salaries.

Maybe in the future, as I become an administrator myself, I will see the need for these expenses. But from my current perspective, it seems wasteful to me. One of the other things we've been talking about in my class is the shortage of quality teachers. I know this is a fact and one of the reasons is because of teacher pay. If less money was wasted by district and state bureaucracies, then more money could be spent to attract quality teachers to the industry.

Just a thought!

The Purpose Behind it All

I created this blog as an assignment in one of my classes for my master's degree. I decided to use it as a tool to help me with a different assignment for a different class. The purpose is to create MY EDUCATIONAL THEORY. This will be usefull to me in the future, because it will be my educational theory that will guide the decisions I make and the practices I use as an educator and a future educational administrator. Please feel free to comment and share your insights. I hope to have thought provoking discussions that will keep my ideas in perspective.