K-12 educationCourtesy of state Senator Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert), here are some interesting statistics from the Arizona Department of Education [with my notes in brackets]:

Here are some interesting facts taken from AZ Dept of Education reports from 2004 and 2008:

ADM [the student population] went from 859,023 in 2004 to 951,117 in 2008, a 10.7% increase.

[Plus inflation would appear to justify a 19 percent increase in school spending—assuming no gains in efficiency or student performance, which unfortunately tends to be a good assumption in government education.]

Number of Administrators went from 2,804 in 2004 to 3,305 in 2008, a 17.9% increase.

[Significantly higher than the 10.7 percent increase in the student population.]

Number of Classified Managers went from 2,374 in 2004 to 3,030 in 2008, a 27.6% increase.

[Nearly three times the rate of increase in the student population.]

Number of Teachers went from 47,396 in 2004 to 53,883 in 2008, a 13.7% increase.

[More than adequate to keep up with the 10.7 percent increase in the student population.]

Average Teacher salary went from $42,324 in 2004 to $49,331 in 2008, a 16.5% increase.

[The increase in teacher salaries was double the rate of increase of inflation during the period. Also, note that the number of students per teacher did not increase (indeed, it shrank, according to the above). And on top of that, there were no measurable gains in student performance...]

Superintendents salaries went from $12,837,427 in 2004 to $19,188,361 in 2008, a 49.5% increase.

[Very disturbing. Sup salaries increased at more than six times the rate of increase of inflation, despite the lack of measurable gains in student performance...]

Total state aid went from $3,179,994,562 in 2004 to $4,453,747,156 in 2008, a 40% increase.

[That is double the 19 percent increase in school spending that would be justified by the increases in student population and inflation, especially since there have been no measurable gains in efficiency or student performance.]

Tom's short conclusion:

We need more education for our tax dollars, not more tax dollars for education!

Link to a PDF document showing national spending on education versus performance on the NAEP:
http://www.americansforprosperity.com/files/spendingupperformanceflat.PDF

Nothing to show for all that money...