Bob McCarty Writes

I happened across a great article on the public education system today. It comes from South Carolina and begins this way:

The State Newspaper ran an article on Monday with the heart-wrenching title: Teachers take 2nd jobs to help make ends meet. The story primarily focuses on one young teacher (she works at the restaurant her husband owns!) and invites readers to imagine many other dedicated young teachers also struggling to get by.

But a closer look at the data shows that teachers in South Carolina, even at entry level, earn more than most of their regional peers in the Southeast. Further, they make more money than the average South Carolinian and even more than the median family income in the state.

It ends this way:

But the REAL story is not how much (or little) these teachers are salaried. The heart of the issue, which the State ignores, is that a mere 44 cents per educational dollar reaches the classroom in the form of instructional spending (a category that includes teacher salaries). This means that taxpayers already provide the funds for better teacher salaries, but the entrenched bureaucratic administration chooses not to allocate it to them.

I encourage you to read — and share — the “guts” of this well-written article at The Voice for School Choice blog.

Note: The blog’s “Quote of the Day” feature is worth reading as well:

“It is not surprising that public schools improve in response to competition from choice. For decades scholars have failed to reach a consensus regarding whether or not added spending increases student achievement in public schools. Their conclusion has been that additional funding does not typically increase achievement because the added resources are not always directed towards the sorts of programs and activities that boost student performance. Public schools that face serious competition for students have a strong incentive to use their resources wisely – or else they will lose students and at least some of the resources that go with them.” -Patrick J. Wolf, Ph.D, Testimony to Texas State Legislature