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Alternatively: Education actually has plenty of money, but too much of it is leeched out by low value vendors charging high premiums for easily replaced commodities, low value administrative staff performing easily automated tasks, and public-sector unions filling their coffers and the coffers of friendly politicians, long before teachers receive a penny, many of which then have to shell out for materials out of their own pockets, materials which ought to be provided for by their employers. I went to public schools which were thick with staff, and for the life of me I could never figure out why there was any more staff than the faculty, the principal, the vice principal, a secretary and maybe a janitor and lunch lady. Even the libraries, IT tasks and sports equipment were maintained by faculty. Janitorial tasks and catering could be good exercises for the kids if you wanted to cut some staff because frankly a good number of kids, myself included, could have used the extra discipline growing up. Meanwhile there were too many unused classrooms, too many kids per class, too few seats and tables and too few lockers. Teachers were paying for printouts and unreturned textbooks (that the students didn’t return to the teacher) but the administration sure had a thick wad of newsletters, handbooks, forms, reports (not all to do with the students, mostly administrative crap) and all manner of garbage for us to take home every single week. |
As for administrators, the ones I see at schools are usually needed: a nurse or medical aide, a psychologist, a librarian, two front desk people (both so you have backup if someone is sick, and so you aren't without someone if a student/parent needs assistance out of the office), custodians are important (you need two, one for daytime, and one for nighttime. Yes, students can do cleanup at some point, but not K-3 at least), etc.
Here's the staff directory of an elementary school near me. Which staff would you cut? http://www2.goleta.k12.ca.us/lapatera/staff-directory