Rising K-12 Spending Without Improved Outcomes Justifies Expanding School Choice
Source: "US spends $21K per student yet K-12 satisfaction hits all-time low | Fox News." September 17, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author argues that even though American schools now spend more money per student than any other country, test scores and parent satisfaction have hit record lows, proving that the public school system is broken. He blames teachers unions and school bureaucracy for wasting money on staff instead of students, and says the fix is to give parents the freedom and funding to choose alternatives like charter schools, private schools, or homeschooling instead of forcing kids into failing public schools.
Conclusion
The government school monopoly is failing students despite record spending, so policymakers should expand school choice by funding students directly rather than school systems.
Premises
- American 15-year-olds' PISA reading and math scores have dropped to among the lowest levels in a generation.
- The US now spends over $21,000 per student, more than any other country, yet outcomes have declined.
- Gallup polling shows 67% of adults are dissatisfied with K-12 education, an all-time low.
- Since 2014, government schools have added about 620,000 employees while enrollment dropped by about 775,000, suggesting spending serves staff rather than students.
- Specific schools (e.g., Frederick Douglass Academy in Chicago, NYC schools) spend extremely high per-pupil amounts yet produce extremely poor proficiency outcomes.
- Homeschooling and school-choice enrollment have surged (e.g., 200% increase in NY homeschooling, 18 states passing universal choice policies), indicating families are fleeing traditional public schools when possible.
- In Texas, demand for school choice scholarships far exceeds the funding cap, with over 100,000 students waitlisted despite scholarships being worth less than half of public per-pupil spending.
Assumptions
- Increased per-pupil spending should, in a well-functioning system, correlate with better academic outcomes.
- Declining enrollment with increasing staff necessarily indicates misallocation of resources toward adults rather than educational quality.
- Parental dissatisfaction and flight to alternatives (homeschooling, private schools) are reliable indicators of systemic educational failure rather than other social or economic factors.
- Teachers unions are a primary causal force behind poor outcomes and resistance to reform.
- School choice programs (vouchers, charters) will produce better outcomes than traditional public schools if adequately funded and unrestricted.
- The relationship between school funding and quality is not confounded by other factors like poverty, special education populations, or regional cost differences.