ADDING UP SOUTH CAROLINA’S ONGOING INVESTMENT IN GOVERNMENT-RUN EDUCATION …
Government-run schools in South Carolina will spend an astounding $16,211 per child in the coming fiscal year, according to documents provided to budget writers by the state’s chief economist.
And yes … that’s more than three times the average per pupil cost of private schools in the Palmetto State.
Breaking things down, we’re looking at $6,070 per child from state appropriations, $5,730 from local government appropriations, $3,116 from bond issues and $1,295 in federal funds.
Apply that figure to 720,799 children within the public school system and yeah … it adds up. Fast. To $11.7 billion, precisely.
What will this massive investment wind up purchasing?
More of the same “fail,” unfortunately … because while South Carolina politicians have become experts at throwing more money at government-run education, they have yet to master the whole “education” part of the equation.
But hey … just keep spending, right?
Right … and borrowing.
And moving kids through the system …
“More money” simply doesn’t work, people. But don’t take our (fiscally conservative) word for it. The Supreme Court of former S.C. chief justice Jean Toal – a liberal activist judge of the very worst sort – concluded the exact same thing in its infamous 2014 “minimally adequate” ruling.
“Spending fails to provide students with the opportunity to obtain a minimally adequate education,” Toal’s court found. “Rather, the evidence demonstrates that there is a clear disconnect between spending and results.”
Indeed there is – and yet our leaders have been engaged in the same rinse-repeat nonsense for decades, reflexively pouring more money into the same failed systems.
Ready for some real accountability for a change? Then insist upon expanded parental choice – which would take a portion of this massive pot of money and let parents find academic environments that are more suited to their children’s individual needs.
Unfortunately, South Carolina can barely expand its fledgling special needs choice program – let alone enact real school choice, i.e. providing options for all students (but especially those low-income students who are perpetually underserved by the government system).
Steps could soon be taken in that direction, but they are long-overdue … and they won’t make a real dent in the system so long as government continues throwing the bulk of its resources on guaranteed failure.
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