Texas School Staffing Surges Report Shows

Report quantifies ed-bureaucracy growth

By Peggy Venable Texas Director Americans for Prosperity

AUSTIN - A bloated bureaucracy in public education is siphoning money from the classroom.  Texas schools average one non-teaching staff for every teacher and only 50 of the education dollars are spent on instruction.   Across the country student enrollment grew 17 from 1992 to 2009 while administrative and other staff numbers grew 47. Teaching staff ranks grew 32. During that time period the report revealed that while Texas student enrollment grew 37 administrative and other non-teaching staff ranks grew a shocking 172. The non-teaching staff bureaucracy in Texas grew almost five times faster than student enrollment and far faster than the teaching staff. The rapid growth in public education bureaucracy is quantified in a new report released today. The Friedman Foundation report confirms what we have been sharing with taxpayers across the State of Texas and on the Red Apple Project website.  The bloated bureaucracies in public schools create inefficiencies and spending priorities are not focused on the classroom.  The report The School Staffing Surge: Have We Made Wise Investments in Public Education Spending?" answers its own question.  The report asserts that as public school staffing grows across the country there is no evidence their numbers are leading to improved academic outcomes for students.  We at Americans for Prosperity continue to assert that while schools simply demand more dollars for the system taxpayers want more education for our dollars. The report can be found at: http://www.edchoice.org/CMSModules/EdChoice/FileLibrary/931/The-School-Staffing-Surge--Decades-of-Employment-Growth-in-Americas-Public-Schools.pdf Peggy Venable is the Texas Director of Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders who believe reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans.