August 26, 2009 5:12PM

Is $19,000 Per Student Enough to Run a School?

By Adam B. Schaeffer

Time for another “THE SCHOOLS HAVE NO MONEY!” report from the WaPo:

The largest‐​ever infusion of federal cash is flowing into public school classrooms this year in the form of new programs and thousands of restored jobs. The stimulus package — $100 billion over two years — comes with similarly sized expectations…


Even with the extra cash, the survey found, many schools are focused on survival…


In Fairfax County, stimulus funding saved about 274 positions, but class size ratios still increased by half a student

Poor schools!


And Fairfax. Desperate, struggling Fairfax only has about $3.3 billion to play with this year. How are they supposed to keep the system running with just $19,000 per student?


Considering the fact that the estimated national median private school tuition is around $4,800 $6,200, maybe they could just let parents and taxpayers keep, say, a third of that money to spend on education themselves.


Voila, no budget problem!