Teachers and Classrooms Scrape For Funds While Educationcrats Reap Hefty Salaries

The average U. S. Department of Education bureaucrat makes twice as much as the higher paid starting teachers.

According to Glassdoor.com statistics the average Education Department employee makes around $85,000 per year.  Program specialists can make over six figures while a contracting officer can earn over $163,000.

Meanwhile teacher salaries lag in many states.  National Education Association statistics show that as of October 2012, West Virginia starting teachers make just over $32,000 per year.  The District of Columbia offers over $51,000 per year, but this pay rate is much higher than many states that rank near them on the list.

Individually, Department of Education hires may be well educated and qualified.  As an institution, however, the Department has failed.  A Cato Institute study shows that student achievement has remained flat or slightly dipped since the Department of Education was founded.

In 2008, Heritage Foundation released a study that found substantial increases in education spending had not been reflected in student achievement.

With all of the spending increases, how is it that classrooms remain underfunded, sports teams get cut, and teacher salaries lag behind inflation?

The problem is federal mandates.  Statutes such as No Child Left Behind have brought burdens to public schools, but have not noticeably boosted achievement.  Increasing federal meddling in schools means that a lot of bureaucrats get cushy salaries while teachers must work harder to meet ever increasing federal demands.

And the federal government has done nothing to make schools better.  Many argue that public schooling is a dysfunctional and dying system.

The answer lies in eliminating the Department of Education and returning primary control of schools to locally elected boards.  Obviously some boards do well and others fail.  But at least they can be held accountable by voters.  Bureaucrats continually fail, but keep their jobs and make hefty paychecks. 

Letting States Out of Jail So They Can Go to Prison

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/9/states-rush-to-leave-no-child-law-behind/

The above story describes a new federal initiative to release states from the burdens of No Child Left Behind regulations, which in itself is a good thing. However, states must abide by even more Department of Education strictures to obtain the waivers.

What good does it do to release schools and teachers from onerous requirements if the Education Department simply makes up more?

It is time that school systems opt out of all Department of Education "help." It's existence has correlated with plunging test scores and student aptitude. Colleges now teach basic skills of reading and writing to millions of eighteen and nineteen year olds every year. There really seems to be no point for federal involvement in public education except to make it more difficult and less effective.

Here are two common sense proposals. Kill No Child Left Behind, the worst legislation of the Bush era. Abolish the Department of Education. That will save money and reform the system in a positive fashion.