Cost of Public Education vs. Health Care

As I write this, Congress is debating and voting on one of the most far reaching pieces of legislation since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Economic Security Bill of 1935. Later it was renamed The Social Security Act and ratified overwhelming by both Democrats and Republicans – see http://www.ssa.gov/history/tally.html for the counts and names.

Obviously, I’m referring to the loosely titled Heath Care Package. Before you run screaming, this is not an endorsement or critique of Health Care as such. I’m not even sure what‘s in the package they are voting on. I’d be willing to bet most folks (for or against the thing) don’t know either. We’ve all heard how this will give care to millions, straighten out the insurance situation, and also fix the economy. What I have not seen are any specifics that would say exactly what it is doing. I suspect the text of the document changes hour by hour as they try to garner enough support to pass it. I’d bet that most of the Representatives voting (again yeah or nay) don’t know what is really in this document – just what they’re being told. The one thing, I think, both sides of the debate can agree on is that if this passes it will mean greater government oversight and control of the whole health care system – including the economy of paying for and providing care, the availability of care, and our personal level of participation in it. Depending on how you may think – this could be good or bad from your point of view.

What has this to do with Homeschool?

I’m all for helping the less fortunate as are many folks. My concern, as I suspect many homeschool parents share, is increased governmental control and regulation in my personal affairs and life plus pocket book. While I don’t know exactly what form this will take with the Health Care Proposal (as of this minute it has not been passed), we can compare it to something the government does control. For comparison, we could argue the merits of Social Security, government control of the post office, or the Federal Reserve System, but I think the best example is public school. The biggest item on most states budget is “education”.

Wouldn’t you give up some control for the betterment of everyone?

It depends. I certainly would voluntarily self sacrifice for someone in need. I think most of us do. Look at the donations of time, goods, and money for Haiti and Chile. While I would do it freely, I would resent being told I had to give $100 to that cause or fly down there and help. I would resent it more if I were told I had to give to a cause I don’t agree with. I suspect most people are like this. One of the possible provisions is that I must get health care insurance. Again this may be “good” insurance or “bad” insurance depending on how it is implemented. I would resent HAVING to participate either way.

Let’s compare that to school. Being educating is mandatory – has been starting in 1852 in Massachusetts. How, where, and what is a parental decision. Even though today (it has not always been this way), the populous’ default is public school, we have available private and home school alternatives. We also can choose our own curriculum. There is no forced national course of study (really borders on fascism there).  The closest we get is at a state level for a state degree from high school a student must have studied certain general subjects. As a parent who decided to forgo the public school option, I would resent being told I had to teach certain subjects a certain way or being told I cannot teach certain concepts. I would resent being told I had to send my child to a public facility. Even if we teach our children different concepts, most homeschool parents cherish the freedom to be able to make these decisions for ourselves. We would not like having our children removed from our care to protect them from us. (See http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100302/us_time/09171196809900 for recent discussion on Amnesty for German Homeschool parents and other proposals for European countries to control school.) Thankfully, the HSLDA, www.hslda.org, helps protect that freedom.

I would not give up control of my children’s education for anything.

How does the government do with school?

To see some discussion on what is being taught, please see some of my earlier posts. For this one, let’s look at something more easily measured – costs. According to the census office, http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/07f33pub.pdf page 13 the cost per student in public education is between $5683 in Utah to $15,981 in New York for the fiscal year 2006 – 2007. Page 108 shows the per county/parish spending. Page 21 shows per pupil spending broken into admin, instruction, etc. The US average on page 13 shows $9666 per student in 2007. I think we can safely round that up to $10,000 per pupil in 2010.

This amount, $10,000, would pay for the tuition to a great many “top notch” expensive / exclusive private schools. I don’t think the public school is giving a comparable environment or education. I live in an average county so my 3 children cost myself and my neighbors $30,000 per year when they went to public school. (And, the school has the nerve to send home requests for donations to buy paper for the teachers to photocopy assignments onto).  For a classroom of 30, the school eats $300,000 in taxes per classroom.  To be sure, the actual school does not see the full amount – especially when you break it down to the instruction.

The percent that goes into instruction is less than 50%. An article that is a little easier to read is from SC – http://thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/senate-finance-committee-11249-per-student-public-school-student/. It shows 43 cents per dollar going to actual instruction (including salaries). The rest is administrative, maintenance on assets, and debt service.

To be easy, we can call it 50% of the amount spent on public education goes to instruction – salary and supplies. We get half of what we pay for. As part of the United Way campaign at work, we can designate groups or causes for charitable donations (conveniently drawn from our salary for us). Most folks balk at giving to an organization that has less than 95% of money received going to the charity. That means the organization must have a 5% or less overhead to operate and pay for its people and buildings. Public School, if it were listed as a charity, would have 50% overhead and no one would donate. This means that the “real” cost of public instruction is $5000 per pupil. The other $5000 is waste into the system.

What could we do with that money as a homeschooler?

Here’s an idea. Close all the schools – force everyone to homeschool and give each homeschool pupil $5000 per year for education. We could cut the biggest state expense in half. Most families could afford to homeschool if one parent stayed home while getting $5000 per student (more in New York). Obviously, such an idea has other issues than just the economics, but it makes the point. $5000 is way over the amount spent per student homeschooling and each student homeschooled saves your neighbors about $10,000 per year in taxes. More homeschooling means fewer taxes for everyone. (Also, the same applies for each private school child).

According to the HSLDA, a home school household spends $546 per year per child on average for books, fees, and teaching materials. I think we spend about $700. Let’s round up to $1000 per child. To be fair, the homeschool parent does not draw a salary, heath care, or a pension. This leaves $4000 per student to pay for that. In a classroom of 30, this amounts to $120,000 to pay for the instructor. When you figure in benefits and a salary around $50,000, this is a little high but not crazy high. The next time the homeschool parent feels like they are not contributing to the household income (with one salary that is usually tight); let them know they are providing the equivalent of $4000 per child right off the top.

How does all this relate?

The $4000 for the instructor plus $1000 per child comparison shows that it really should only cost us $5000 per child per year US average to educate each and every child. We are being charged twice that for the privilege of governmental involvement. In this case, we are taking something we can do for ourselves for a reasonable amount ($1000 per year) or contract out for a reasonable amount ($5000) and doubling it to an unreasonable amount ($10,000). I figure paying $10,000 for $5000 worth of product or service is unreasonable. With the Health Care Reform, we are taking something that is already unreasonably expensive and adding more governmental involvement. I know the claim is that the government will reduce the cost, but history is against this claim. The same was said about education. In fact, I know of no situation where adding more government reduced cost. If our comparison is any indication, then the cost for care will double from unreasonable to crazy with the added benefit of being told how I am allowed to care for my family. Again the specifics of the bill may be good or bad. My concern is the same as I have with education. If I don’t like the prescribed course of education/care, can I opt out? Can I control how my family is cared for?

Ideally, is there a way to apply the lessons learned from homeschool vs. public to the health care picture? Maybe we could then really reduce costs and gain greater personal control? Your thoughts?