1. Table of the Day I (above) shows a comparison of some key statistics in 1980 and 2014 for public elementary and secondary schools in the US based on data from the National Center for Educational Statistics here. During the 34-year period between 1980-2014, the number of public school students increased by 22.6% (and by 9.25 million). Over the same period, total staff headcount increased by 50.1% (and by 2.1 million), led by an 88.1% increase in school district administrative staff and followed by a 54.1% increase in instructional staff which included a 63.1% increase in school principals and assistant principals. The total expenditures for America’s public schools more than doubled between 1980 and 2014, from less than $300 billion 1980 to more than $600 billion in 2014 (both in 2015 dollars). On a per-student basis, the cost to educate a student in US public schools increased by more than 75.5%, from $7,204 in 1980 to $12,642 in 2014. Meanwhile, reading and math test scores for 17-year old public school students have been basically flat since the 1970s.
As my AEI colleague Andrew Biggs commented on Facebook about the table above: “If you think more resources will solve our educational problems…”
2. Chart of the Day I (above) displays CPI price increases since 1978 for: a) educational books (mostly college textbooks), b) medical care services, c) new home prices and d) the overall CPI for all items. Except for college tuition, there’s no other consumer good, product or service that has increased more in price over the last 38 years than college textbooks, which have increased more than 1,000% since 1978. As I wrote in 2015, those ongoing price increases have led to the “ new era of the $400 college textbook.” Exhibit A: The chemistry textbook Principles of Instrumental Analysis (7th edition), with a list price of $448, but available at a sale price on Amazon.com for $425 (gift-wrap available).
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