K-12 Education Reform: Facts, Figures & Recommendations (Issues 2006)

K–12 Education

By Dan Lips

Since 1965, federal education policy has followed a "Great Society" formula, multiplying programs and funding for narrowly tailored purposes. Today, the federal government spends more than $66 billion on K–12 education: more than $1,400 for every public school student in the United States. This $66 billion is channeled through dozens of government agencies and hundreds of programs, but parents have little or no control over how their child’s share of federal education funding is spent. Congress should reform federal education programs to transfer control from the federal bureaucracy to parents and local authorities, who have the real responsibility for educating children. To that end, Congress should streamline education programs and return to the initial rationale for federal involvement in education—compensatory education to assist disadvantaged students—but deliver that funding assistance as portable aid to individual students, not aid to institutions.

Recommendations

Encourage the emergence of a market-driven education system by promoting accountability to parents. Parental choice in education represents the ultimate form of accountability to parents. Congress should reform federal education programs to give parents control over how their child’s share of federal education funding is used. These reforms include making Title I for disadvantaged children portable, strengthening parental choice within No Child Left Behind, and targeted school choice programs such as the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.
Reform and streamline federal education programs to promote parental choice in education. The federal government runs more than a hundred K–12 education programs. Congress should support program eliminations and consolidations under the President’s FY 2007 budget. It should also concentrate federal funds on the disadvantaged students for whom federal education programs were originally intended and give states the opportunity to consolidate programs and use existing federal education funding for student-focused grants. For example, states could fold the majority of funding into per-student grant programs for disadvantaged children currently served by Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Dispel the myth that federal education spending leads to improved educational achievement and freeze the growth in education spending. If President Bush’s FY 2007 budget proposal is approved, education funding for programs under No Child Left Behind will have increased 40 percent ($17.3 billion to $24.4 billion) since he took office. Some have called for even more spending on federal education programs. However, lack of money is not the problem. Over the past three decades, per-pupil education spending has doubled as test scores have remained stagnant.
The federal government has a limited ability to improve schools across the nation. Rather than increasing spending, the federal government should increase the efficiency of its existing education programs. The current education system wastes resources: As much as 40 cents on the dollar may be lost between Washington and the classroom. The solution is to make sure that more dollars reach the classroom by streamlining federal education programs and giving parents rather than bureaucrats control of education resources.
Limit federal education policy to its original intention—assisting disadvantaged children—and pursue reforms that empower parents, not bureaucrats The original purpose of federal education policy was compensatory education—providing funding assistance for disadvantaged children. Congress should return to this central mission. Rather than diverting funding to non-essential programs, Congress should consolidate programs and create parental choice programs serving disadvantaged students, such as Title I or the IDEA. This would eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and give tens of millions of families greater ability to choose their children’s school.

Charts & Tables

Chart 1: Federal Spending on Education, 1970-2004
Chart 2: Percent Proficient on NAEP Tests:
All Students and Disadvantaged Students
Chart 3: International Education Spending and Math Achievement
Chart 4: Number of Students per Teacher and Achievement Test Scores,
1971-1999
Chart 5: Voucher Amount vs. Per Pupil Expenditure