No, we haven't 'defunded education for years'

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/no-we-havent-defunded-education-for-years

No, we haven't 'defunded education for years'

Several viral social media posts claim legislators have been draining education funding for years. A tweet from a high school football coach asserting that “they’ve been defunding education for years” has garnered over a half-million likes in just a few days.

The problem is that we haven’t actually defunded education. We’ve done the opposite.

On average, the United States currently spends over $15,000 per student each year, and inflation-adjusted K-12 education spending per student has increased by 280% since 1960. In California, where the previously mentioned football coach resides, inflation-adjusted spending on K-12 education has increased by 129% since 1970. Furthermore, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that nearly a third of all state budget expenditures go toward education.

Back in the mid-90s, per-student spending was approaching the $10K/student level, topping it in some locales, a little short of it in others.

[The_Reader_David]

No, actually we have defunded education, and have been at it for decades.   All that money cited in the snippet is being spent in government schools, with administrators paid princely sums, but effectively run be teachers unions, using curricula that have been watered down and politicized to the point of being worthless.  Spending money on schools is not the same as spending money on actual education.  And we've been spending less and less money on actual education even as we spend more and more money on schools.

[Cyber Liberty]

No, actually we have defunded education, and have been at it for decades.   All that money cited in the snippet is being spent in government schools, with administrators paid princely sums, but effectively run be teachers unions, using curricula that have been watered down and politicized to the point of being worthless.  Spending money on schools is not the same as spending money on actual education.  And we've been spending less and less money on actual education even as we spend more and more money on schools.

Then I think it's safe to say, "We" didn't defund education, the Educrats did.

[Fishrrman]

Serious assertion:
We should cut EVERY education budget in America to 25% of what it previously was.
And... the kids would learn MORE than they're learning now.

[The_Reader_David]

Serious assertion:
We should cut EVERY education budget in America to 25% of what it previously was.
And... the kids would learn MORE than they're learning now.

Actually, that's not how it would work.  They'd fire all the young bright-eyed idealists among the teachers, keep paying the administrators princely sums, increase class sizes and make American schools even more useless than they are now.

The way to fix the problem is to fire lots of administrators, ban public service unions (a three-fer that one, it gets rid of the teachers unions, the police unions, and a big source of funding for the Democrats), allow people with degrees in the actual subject (math, history,... not math ed, social science ed,...) to teach the subject in high schools, and institute voucher programs.  At that point, kids would probably learn more on average if you cut the budgets by 25% than they do now, but less than if you fixed those things and didn't cut the budget.

[Smokin Joe]

No, actually we have defunded education, and have been at it for decades.   All that money cited in the snippet is being spent in government schools, with administrators paid princely sums, but effectively run be teachers unions, using curricula that have been watered down and politicized to the point of being worthless.  Spending money on schools is not the same as spending money on actual education.  And we've been spending less and less money on actual education even as we spend more and more money on schools.

Mark Twain said, "Never let your schooling interfere with your education."

Unfortunately, schooling is mandatory. Education is not.