Education Establishment Endorses Ignorance

The education industrial complex is failing our students.

The South Dakota Education Association (SDEA) posted this quote by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on their Facebook page on Monday, January 13, 2025. "The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize."

Is America skimping on its investment in our public schools? Are we failing to prioritize our children's education?

According to the Urban Institute–a nonprofit research organization who believes that “data and evidence are essential to shaping a more inclusive, equitable, and just society”–almost a third of all state and local taxes are spent on K-12 public schools and public colleges and universities.

As you can see from their report (pictured above), this makes education the largest expenditure of state and local taxes.

According to the US Census Bureau, South Dakota spent $11,932 per pupil in fiscal year 2023. That’s a 34% increase over the past decade.

South Dakota spent 44% of its budget on education in fiscal year 2024. That’s more than one billion dollars!

But what sort of return are we, the taxpayers of South Dakota, getting from this investment of our taxes into public education?

The answer is only 51% of South Dakota’s public school students have a BASIC proficiency in English Language Arts, 44% in Mathematics, and 43% in Science. SD Education Secretary Graves says that a 91% high school completion rate is "the envy of many other states." However, only 54% of those graduating from SD public high schools are ready for college or a career.

The SDEA's Facebook post occurs at a time when the SD legislature is poised to consider a few school choice (aka voucher) bills. These bills would provide parents with more freedom to decide how their taxes would be spent on their children's education. The SDEA argues that public money (i.e. your taxes) should ONLY fund public schools.

Why can’t taxes allocated for education follow each student to the best schooling option their parents choose (i.e. private school, home school, etc.), rather than continue funding a public school system which is failing to achieve basic competencies for half of the children entrusted to it?