June 7, 2010 8:28AM 

# Why We Need Fewer Public School Jobs, Not More 

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

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That’s the topic of a commentary I just wrote at [Big​Gov​ern​ment​.com](http://biggovernment.com/acoulson/2010/06/05/the-u-s-economy-needs-fewer-public-school-jobs-not-more/#more-128926), tied to recent efforts to prop up public school employment with another $23 billion bailout. I won’t repeat the text of that post here, but thought the two charts bear repeating. The first shows that employment has grown *10 times faster* than enrollment over the past 40 years.

![Media Name: Coulson-Cato-PS-Enroll-Employ-2010-s2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/Coulson-Cato-PS-Enroll-Employ-2010-s2.jpg?itok=ffJ-_RO2) 

The second chart shows how the total cost of sending a single child through the public school system has changed over the years, along with trends in student achievement.

![Media Name: Coulson-Cato-PS-Cost-Scores-2010-s.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/Coulson-Cato-PS-Cost-Scores-2010-s.jpg?itok=cUXs7TU9) 

##### Related Tags 

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

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