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Efficiency And Inefficiency In The Texas Public Schools
Executive Summary
One the whole, Texas public schools are very inefficient. If we compare student achievement scores with the amount of money spent to produce those scores, we conclude that about one out of every three dollars spent on public education is being wasted. On the average, if a school district is randomly chosen from among the more than 1,000 school districts in Texas, odds are that some other school district performs just as well on standardized tests for about two-thirds as much money.
On apparent source of inefficiency is the large amount of money spent on nonclassroom activities and administrative personnel.
- The Texas public schools employ more nonteachers than teachers, and
spending on nonteaching activities is more than $5,000 per student in some
school districts.
- The amount spent on administrative costs varies from a low of $29
per student in the leanest school district to $2,208 in the highest-spending
district.
- Extracurricular spending varies from less than $30 per student in some districts to more than $600 per student in others - not counting spending on facilities such as football stadiums and swimming pools.
- On the average, full economies of scale require a student population
of about 2,000.
- Yet 73.6 percent of Texas school districts have fewer than 2,000 students, and many of these districts are within close proximity and easily could be merged.
We were unable to measure the effects of most of these regulations. We did find that more years of classroom experience by teachers improves efficiency, whereas the pupil-teacher ratio appears not to matter.
Texas currently spends about $4,600 per student (including spending on debt, facilities and teachers' retirement). Yet is appears we are not getting our money's worth. In general, the more we spend on education, the more inefficient Texas public schools become. On the average:
- A 10 percent increase in state spending would lead to an additional
$270,000 of waste in an average-size school district.
- Although districts which are more dependent on state aid (poorer districts) tend to be more efficient, each additional dollar of state aid in these districts would lead to 25 cents of waste under the current system.
A complete copy of the study "Efficiency and Inefficiency In The Texas Public Schools" is available for $10. To order this study, please contact the NCPA at 972/386-6272.