Growth in Education Staffing Has Far Outpaced Student Enrollment
Created on October 16, 2012
PERCENTAGE CHANGE SINCE 1970
Since 1970, total student enrollment in public schools increased by 3.7 million, or 8 percent. However, during that same period, total education staffing rose by 2.8 million, or 84 percent. Most notable was the growth in non-teaching staff which increased by 138 percent.
Notes: Some figures have been interpolated. Figures for teachers and student enrollment for 2011 and Fall 2012 are projected.
CHART 1
Teaching Staff
Total Staff
Non-Teaching Staff
Student Enrollment
(Fall)
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, “Staff employed in public elementary and secondary school systems, by functional area: Selected years, 1949-50 through fall 2009,” Table 85, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_085.asp (accessed August 30, 2012); Digest of Education Statistics 2011, June 2012, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012001.pdf (accessed August 30, 2012); and National Center for Education Statistics, “The Condition of Education 2012,” May 2012, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012045.pdf (accessed August 30, 2012).
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