Student-to-teacher ratio of 9.3? How can that be true? What classroom has that ratio? (Does this ratio mean something way different than I intuitively expect?)
"Pedagogic staff" is a broader category than full-time teacher, and includes roles like teaching assistants. It does not include principals, administrators, janitors, etc.
There are ~73,000 full-time teachers as of DOE 2023-2024 reporting. If you divide FY2022 enrollment (which I use in the post) of 1,084,250, (a kludgey calc, but it works) you get a ratio of 14.9.
Super interesting! $34K was already eye-popping, and here I had no idea all that extra money was hidden. With the capital budget and school construction baked in, that puts us at $44.8B or $41K/student! Kills me.
Beyond the scope of analysis, but perhaps worth noting as an aside, is that rise in per-pupil ratios are dubiously correlated with better outcomes. An article from the Economist just this month spoke to this:
"The challenge goes beyond finding more cash. In the decade to 2018 spending per pupil rose by around 15% in rich countries without producing dramatic results. The oecd’s data suggest that pushing up school funding brings reliable improvements only until it reaches a threshold of about $75,000 per pupil, spread over each child’s first ten years in school. Beyond that point, the gains quickly peter out. America is a striking example. It spends more than $140,000 per pupil. Yet across the board its maths, science and reading scores still lag behind those of Japan, which shells out about 40% less."
This is eye opening! I think it would be interesting to see a comparison of test scores and school budgets to understand if there is a correlation between them
Student-to-teacher ratio of 9.3? How can that be true? What classroom has that ratio? (Does this ratio mean something way different than I intuitively expect?)
"Pedagogic staff" is a broader category than full-time teacher, and includes roles like teaching assistants. It does not include principals, administrators, janitors, etc.
There are ~73,000 full-time teachers as of DOE 2023-2024 reporting. If you divide FY2022 enrollment (which I use in the post) of 1,084,250, (a kludgey calc, but it works) you get a ratio of 14.9.
Super interesting! $34K was already eye-popping, and here I had no idea all that extra money was hidden. With the capital budget and school construction baked in, that puts us at $44.8B or $41K/student! Kills me.
Beyond the scope of analysis, but perhaps worth noting as an aside, is that rise in per-pupil ratios are dubiously correlated with better outcomes. An article from the Economist just this month spoke to this:
"The challenge goes beyond finding more cash. In the decade to 2018 spending per pupil rose by around 15% in rich countries without producing dramatic results. The oecd’s data suggest that pushing up school funding brings reliable improvements only until it reaches a threshold of about $75,000 per pupil, spread over each child’s first ten years in school. Beyond that point, the gains quickly peter out. America is a striking example. It spends more than $140,000 per pupil. Yet across the board its maths, science and reading scores still lag behind those of Japan, which shells out about 40% less."
https://www.economist.com/international/2023/12/05/the-pandemics-toll-on-schooling-emerges-in-awful-new-exam-results
This is eye opening! I think it would be interesting to see a comparison of test scores and school budgets to understand if there is a correlation between them