August 26, 2009 5:12PM # Is $19,000 Per Student Enough to Run a School? By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE Time for another “THE SCHOOLS HAVE NO MONEY!” report from the *[WaPo](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/25/AR2009082503149.html)*: > 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](http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/documents/approved/2010/ApprovedBudget10.pdf) 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](../2008/12/16/school-choice-saves-money-and-children/)! ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).