Education Spending in America
State/Federal DOE Annual Budgets
| Annual (2014) | $402.9 ($B) | Federal | $172.1 ($B) | State | $230.8 ($B) |
|---|
In a day when nearly everyone has an opportunity to attend college and obtain a higher education, few remember that it was just yesterday when most people barely completed high school. Until the end of the 1980’s, it wasn’t necessary and most people learned their working skills “on-the-job” (OJT).
In fact, a large portion of today’s workforce never went to college or at least, did not start out by going to school. Nearly everyone started working between the ages of 14 and 18 in jobs that ranged from fast food to malls, UPS and construction.
Originally, OJT worked best for trade, manufacturing and service type jobs but certain segments of the population has been self-educating in technology. This and the rising cost of higher education offers an opportunity to apply OJT in certain technical fields.
The majority of employment opportunities now and in the future will be professional in nature requiring at least some advanced education combined with skills in technology – even if it’s the ability to efficiently use Office.
Today’s demands are forty years in the making. These Boards and Departments of Education promised improvement but failed to keep up with the times. Politicians promised action throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at special interest projects defined by the special interest beneficiaries. And we continue to spend double digit billions paying for Public Employees (teachers) to improve their skills who fail at preparing local populations with the skills they need.
The failures of the education system has been so sweeping, the Federal Government had to create and expand a special immigration status for foreigners. People educated off-shore, trained and armed with the skills necessary to meet demands of current job markets. Technology alone once suffered a deficiency of 400,000 jobs, open positions without a suitable pool of skilled workers to fill them.
And, we continue to legally import 1M people annually to fill 200,000 jobs.
It’s no different than it was in 1975. Those driving the education system blindly assumed integration would raise the education of black communities. When Government and those with progressive objectives started sticking their hands
in it, they started desegregation calling it integration. The ensuing bussing effort sought to bring balance by transporting black students to predominantly white schools who had better performing students.
Chicago (1975), (see article lower right corner of page) where the population was 58% black, the effort met with protest and ultimate failure at a time when the Federal Government was giving the City of Chicago $35 Million in “education funds”.
To put that in perspective gas was about $0.50 cents a gallon ($0.29 in 1968).
It failed terribly because they assume everyone, every culture and social niche learns by the same technique and at the same pace. The entire eco-system ignored the biggest drag on successfully educating a population. Parents who don’t value or get involved in a child’s education and education administrators who treat students like assembly line parts.
Today, these Boards of Education have been more concerned with teaching racial integration and twisting history into a social study than preparing students with the math and science backgrounds necessary to enter fields in demand right
out of high school where the last two years should have been at the level of junior college by the year 2000.
While the concept dates back to Colonial and early days of the United States of America, a Board of Education did not exist in all states until the 1970’s or later. On average, it took 75 to 150 years for most states to establish a board of education once they entered the Union. In the case of Florida, 300 years after the land was first settled in 1565.
Until the 1980’s, education in America was fairly straight forward. Students learned to do basic math in their head and were taught formula’s for more complex systems. History classes focused on American History without the subjective opinion of teachers and an education system insistent on segregating citizens into special interest groups based on race. Education was well rounded including art, music and shop classes. Fast forward and we find school districts dropping basic English and Writing classes.
In 2014, the State of Illinois alone received $1.5 Billion in Federal Funding marked for education. Of that, $94 Million was tagged for “Improving Teacher Quality” and a disproportionate amount of $672 Million went into “Education for the Disadvantaged”. In government, “disadvantaged” is a subjective term suggesting most of that money probably went to Chicago.
Given the state of education, what students know, what they believe and what they don’t know entering college one must wonder what $402.9 Billion dollars is paying for. The education system still doesn’t customize education services as necessary to address the capabilities of local populations. And they’re not preparing K-12 students for the skills they will need in 2025 or beyond.
These numbers do not reflect the billions Federal Government contributed in 2014 to Student Loan and Grant Programs. For example, Illinois alone received another $4.7 Billion in Government Funds spent on these Student related programs.
The table below list State Education Spending alongside the years they were settled, entered Union (USA) and when they started a local education system. Federal Funding for your State can be found in this excel file with additional
Budget History’s available on the U.S. Department of Education web site.
If America has to import temporary skilled workers (H1-B) while millions are collecting unemployment benefits or remain under-employed, we’re obviously not getting what we’ve been paying for in Education.
State/Federal DOE Annual Budgets
| Annual (2014) | $402.9 ($B) | Federal | $172.1 ($B) | State | $230.8 ($B) |
|---|
| US State | Abbr | DOE Established |
Budget ($B) |
Entered Union |
Year Settled |
History Web Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | AL | 1854 | 5.1 | 1819 | 1702 | |
| Alaska | AK | 1917 | 1.6 | 1959 | 1784 | |
| Arizona | AZ | 1912 | 3.6 | 1912 | 1776 | |
| Arkansas | AR | 1931 | 3.7 | 1836 | 1686 | |
| California | CA | 1920 | 76.6 | 1850 | 1769 | |
| Colorado | CO | 1950 (1865) | 6.3 | 1876 | 1858 | y |
| Connecticut | CT | 1865 | 6.9 | 1788 | 1634 | |
| Delaware | DE | 3.7 | 1787 | 1638 | ||
| Florida | FL | 1870 | 23 | 1845 | 1565 | y |
| Georgia | GA | 1870 | 6.4 | 1788 | 1733 | |
| Hawaii | HI | 1840 | 1.9 | 1959 | 1820 | |
| Idaho | ID | 1912 | 14.2 | 1890 | 1842 | |
| Illinois | IL | 1970 | 6.3 | 1818 | 1720 | |
| Indiana | IN | 8.7 | 1816 | 1733 | ||
| Iowa | IA | 1913 | 4.6 | 1846 | 1788 | |
| Kansas | KS | 1968 | 3.7 | 1861 | 1727 | |
| Kentucky | KY | 4.6 | 1792 | 1774 | ||
| Louisiana | LA | 8.7 | 1812 | 1699 | ||
| Maine | ME | 1911 | 0.9 | 1820 | 1624 | |
| Maryland | MD | 7.9 | 1788 | 1634 | ||
| Massachusetts | MA | 1647 | 4.3 | 1788 | 1620 | |
| Michigan | MI | 14.6 | 1837 | 1668 | ||
| Minnesota | MN | 15.3 | 1858 | 1805 | ||
| Mississippi | MS | 2.4 | 1817 | 1699 | ||
| Missouri | MO | 5.4 | 1821 | 1735 | ||
| Montana | MT | 1.7 | 1889 | 1809 | ||
| Nebraska | NE | 1.5 | 1867 | 1823 | ||
| Nevada | NV | 1881 | 3.4 | 1864 | 1849 | |
| New Hampshire | NH | 1.4 | 1788 | 1623 | ||
| New Jersey | NJ | 8.9 | 1787 | 1660 | ||
| New Mexico | NM | 2.6 | 1912 | 1610 | ||
| New York | NY | 1812 | 18.9 | 1788 | 1614 | |
| North Carolina | NC | 1776 | 7.7 | 1789 | 1660 | |
| North Dakota | ND | 1863 | 1.6 | 1889 | 1812 | |
| Ohio | OH | 1834 | 10.9 | 1803 | 1788 | |
| Oklahoma | OK | 1971 | 3 | 1907 | 1889 | |
| Oregon | OR | 1872 | 1.9 | 1859 | 1811 | |
| Pennsylvania | PA | 1834 | 5.5 | 1787 | 1682 | |
| Rhode Island | RI | 1.1 | 1790 | 1636 | ||
| South Carolina | SC | 1895 | 3.7 | 1788 | 1670 | |
| South Dakota | SD | 0.8 | 1889 | 1859 | ||
| Tennessee | TN | 1873 | 5.6 | 1796 | 1769 | |
| Texas | TX | 1949 | 45.4 | 1845 | 1682 | |
| Utah | UT | 1896 | 3.4 | 1896 | 1847 | |
| Vermont | VT | 1.4 | 1791 | 1724 | ||
| Virginia | VA | 1776 | 15.5 | 1788 | 1607 | |
| Washington | WA | 1889 | 9.8 | 1889 | 1811 | |
| West Virginia | WV | 1872 | 0.6 | 1863 | 1727 | |
| Wisconsin | WI | 1848 | 5.9 | 1848 | 1766 | |
| Wyoming | WY | 1917 | 0.3 | 1890 | 1834 |
| Annual (2014) | $402.9 ($B) | Federal | $172.1 ($B) | State | $230.8 ($B) |
|---|