Won't somebody think about the children!

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The problem is not with funding, it is how the money is spent on education.

How many times do I have to say it?

$8,610.00 per kid, and still that is not enough. Classroom sizes of 22-25 children are way too large. Chaos! Pandemonium! Outright terror over the education of our children!

And yet . . .

My daughter attends a private school with grades K-6. The teachers make comparable salaries to public school teachers and have decent benefits. Each class averages about 22 students, my daughter has 23 right now in her 1st grade class. WITH daycare provided before and after school, I spend less than $6,000 per year. If I did not require after school care, it would be $4,250.00 per year. Daycare averages to about $2.00 per hour.

And what do we get for this cost? Excellent, kind and caring staff. Decent facilities with good books and learning materials. A functional library. A decent computer lab. An after school study hall program. After school programs which include playground time, an exercise program, a Spanish program, and an occasional science program. Scouting program opportunities. A school musical. At least two field trips per class, per year. And, a christian education.

The school tests better as a whole than over 90% of the other schools in the entire State. My daughter reads at a 4th + grade level and has a 4th grade math comprehension level. The kids are taught cursive in kindergarten, and they do full book reports, including notes, drafts, and an art project in the 1st grade.

Now compare that to the average educational experience of kids in our public school system.