Where’s all the public school money going?

• Mississippi should double down on classroom investments instead of throwing money into an already bloated administrative field, writes Hunter Estes.

A few days ago, I saw a chart making the rounds online that I found quite startling. It depicted the dramatic growth in bloat within our public school systems across the nation. Student and teacher numbers were relatively stagnant. But the number of administrative staffers had absolutely exploded beyond belief.

The chart (shown below) used data from the National Center for Education Statistics to lay bare a pretty grim reality. Since 2000, the number of students has grown by about 5 percent and the number of teachers has grown by about 10 percent. Yet, surprisingly, the number of principals and assistant principals has grown by 39 percent and the number of administrative staff members has grown by 95 percent.

We’re looking at, essentially, the doubling of administrative staff in American public schools with almost no change in the student population.

This data begs the obvious question: What the hell is going on in our nation’s public schools? 

And y’all, don’t think for a minute that Mississippi is immune to this.

According to a 2019 report from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, “the number of administrative personnel in Mississippi public schools increased by 51.1 percent from 1993 to 2018.”

But they’re not alone in their findings.

In fact, State Auditor Shad White’s office revealed in a report just a few months ago that between 2006 and 2021, Mississippi lost 60,000 students, yet “administrative spending in Mississippi grew by 6.51% while inside-the-classroom spending dropped by 7.76%.” 

And that’s adjusted for inflation!

So, altogether, Mississippi has less students in our public school system. We’ve spent less money in our classrooms. But somehow, we’re spending even more on administration. I think any taxpayer would rightly like to know why their dollars are being allocated this way.

Amidst historic inflation, many pinch pennies to keep their budgets in the black. That’s why now is the right time to ask whether our school leaders are doing the same with the money that is publicly entrusted to them.

These reports come alongside others that highlight egregious salaries that revealed multiple superintendents to be among the highest-paid public officials in Mississippi, which only further heightens concerns about how public dollars are being spent.

Mississippi made a concerted effort to change our culture in education. We became a national leader for our literacy efforts. State leaders made difficult decisions that ultimately propelled our state upwards in the rankings and made us a leader instead of a follower in education. The Mississippi Miracle is a direct product of those policy decisions.

Now, we have another opportunity to lead.

As we look to the future and seek to further build on existing success, we should buck this disturbing national trend. We should double down on our classroom investments instead of throwing money into an already bloated administrative field.

Whether that comes in the form of administrative spending freezes, audits, cost-cutting endeavors, or other ventures, something must be done about this unchecked growth in the administrative sector of our public schools.

This might not be the politically popular position to take. After all, Mississippi is one big, small town, which seems to make it all the harder to cut any position. After all, just about everyone has a family member or friend who works in the public school system, and all of those folks vote too!

But at some point, we must decide if the primary focus of our education system is the successful education of Mississippi’s children or the seemingly endless expansion of an ever-growing jobs program across our state.

I’ll never forget a few years ago when a friend of mine who is a teacher told me how often she had to spend her own money to supply her classroom with some basic necessities throughout the year. One can’t help but think that maybe if we spent a bit less on bureaucrats and a bit more in our classrooms, this wouldn’t be a problem.

More for teachers. Less for bureaucracy. That should be a commonsense rallying cry for further education reform in our state.