It’s been a little too long since I have harped on government schools.  I only do it in hopes that at least one responsible parent will take their child out of the hands of the government to be educated.  This is absolutely a reason why 40% of young Americans do not believe that they can make a better life for themselves than their parents.  With a government education, they may be right.

So what is the solution?  According to Democrats, spend more money to hire more government school teachers and build better schools.  There’s only one, minor, teeny, tiny little problem with this theory.  Throwing more money hasn’t been the solution to improving government education for decades, what makes us think it will be different this time around? 

The truth is that spending on government education has increased 375% over the last four decades.  Per pupil spending has gone from $5,671 in 1970 to $12,922 in 2007-2008.  That’s a 128% increase in per pupil spending.  And when it comes to hiring more people to staff government schools, employment has increased at 10 times the rate compared to student enrollment.  The number of school administrators per pupil has doubled.

Yet Barack Obama and the Democrats say that it is imperative we pass a $35 billion jobs bill to put teachers back into the classrooms.  Guess what else he won’t tell you about these teachers?  They are being compensated at a 50% greater rate than private sector employees.  That’s right.  A new study by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute has run the numbers on teacher compensation.  They found that contrary to popular belief, “public-school teachers receive total compensation more than 50 percent greater than that of private sector employees – if you take into account benefits, job security, summer vacations and other factors.  This means that the taxpayers are being charged $120 billion ever year over market value for these government school teachers.  The study found that “teachers who switch to teaching from other jobs get a 9 percent pay rise, while people who leave teaching typically take a 3 percent pay cut.”