October 25, 2012 11:28AM 

# More on the Public School Productivity Collapse 

By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) 

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Employment has grown explosively in U.S. public schools over the past two generations, [far faster than student enrollment](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303734204577465413553320588.html), and I was delighted to see [Jay Greene ](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443482404578042704123153548.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)drawing attention to this recently ([with one caveat](https://www.cato.org/obama-romney-teachers-and-choice/)). I am equally delighted to see the Friedman Foundation’s major foray into this area: a new report titled [“The School Staffing Surge”](http://www.edchoice.org/CMSModules/EdChoice/FileLibrary/931/The-School-Staffing-Surge--Decades-of-Employment-Growth-in-Americas-Public-Schools.pdf).

This report describes the national employment and enrollment changes over two periods: 1950–2009 and 1992–2009, as well as the state-level changes for the 1992–2009 period. Check it out!

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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