January 26, 2009 2:45PM # Let’s Just Have A Big Bonfire of Cash Instead By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE Can you think of a better use for taxpayer money than spending it on the most inefficient and least productive segment of our economy? Well then it’s a good thing that the *[Economic Stagnation and Ruinous Debt Plan](http://readthestimulus.org/)* (aka “*The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan*”), includes a hefty dose of dedicated funding for the government school monopoly (aka “public schools”). Around $142 Billion, or around 17% of the “stimulus” is planned for Big Ed, and, surprise, school choice programs don’t make the cut for funding. Dan Lips has a great [overview](http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/bg2233.cfm) of this small chunk of folly off the enormous folly-block presently tumbling its way through Congress. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [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/).