COVID-19 aftermath: What things will change forever?

[nate82]

I will have to look up the study that was done on school spending and where it goes again if I can find it again that is. But it stated the majority of the funding goes to administration than it does to buildings, technology, supplies, activities and teacher salaries.

[DHonks]

I will have to look up the study that was done on school spending and where it goes again if I can find it again that is. But it stated the majority of the funding goes to administration than it does to buildings, technology, supplies, activities and teacher salaries.

 

For k-12, Administration makes up about 10% (lower in my district). I can't find the exact number, but I've heard teacher salaries make up something like 60% of the budget

 

Edit: found the Admin percent

[CheezWizHed]

So, my wife and I (mostly my wife) homeschooled our kids for most of their lives and have gone into a traditional school for high school. So, going back to "school from home" was pretty natural for my kids and we had zero problems with them getting work done. Yes, they continued through new topics and finished their normal curriculum.

 

I say that for the background to my question. I don't really want to go down the homeschool vs. traditional comparison. For many people and many reasons, homeschooling isn't an option.

 

So what if some classes were taught virtually? Or even entire grades? There has been a lot of discussion about the lack of quality teachers. Could virtual teachers help solve that problem? Yes, that would probably mean fewer teachers as JosephC commented (though in blue), though I doubt it would really effect the numbers much. For certain classes, especially the advanced classes (math, physics, chemistry, etc..), that might help schools in rural areas or inner cities attract better teachers.

 

Here in Minnesota, PSEO is pretty popular because it is funded by the state government. My kids take classes from a MN university and get both high school and college credit (if it transfers to your college of choice). My daughter attended her physical classroom, but for certain hours, worked on her PSEO online. As she goes into college this fall, we are hoping she has reduced her tuition by one semester (~$12k savings).

 

Perhaps if virtual classrooms were extended, it would provide school districts with more options for a good education, even if they are short on qualified teachers. When I was a senior in HS, our advanced math and physics teacher had a baby and was out for 6 weeks. Living in rural WI, we had no option for a qualified substitute to take all of her classes. In fact, the person that replaced her was so bad, I ended up coaching her on algebra so she could teach that class (I even attended that class to help the students directly a couple of times). The rest of us (Trig, Geometry, Algebra II, Physics) were on our own for 6 weeks of "self-study". A virtual teacher would've been wonderful.

 

I realize that many kids are going to have issues with self-motivation if they were at home all the time doing school. But perhaps some are in the classroom with a classroom monitor.

[CheezWizHed]

The rest of us (Trig, Geometry, Algebra II, Physics) were on our own for 6 weeks of "self-study".

 

By the way, our regular teacher was so good, that my classes (Trig/Pre-Calc and Physics) caught up by the end of the year. My first classes in college Calculus and Physics were 100% review for me. So Hooray for good teachers!

[nate82]

The average spending for schools is something around $13,000 per student some sources have it as high as $16,000 per student but I will go with the old 2017 information where it was at $13,000 per student other sources are not all that reliable for the $16,000 figure.

 

So instead of the government spending this money maybe they should just give it to the parents as a stipend to pay for the schooling that they want. If they want their kids to attend a private school they can use it for that. A better idea would be to pool your money together and hire a teacher which for a teacher would actually be more lucrative for them. For example lets say 10 families with 1 child each decide to pool their money together and hire a teacher that teacher now has a salary of $130,000 instead of the average of about $40,000 I believe it is.

 

You could also change the tax code so that some of that salary would go to expenses and be written off. Unions could also create a co-op where their members could pool in their money using it how they see fit maybe the salaries for each individual teacher goes down but they can join a pool of workers and get health insurance and a retirement plan that is managed. I believe this would be a win for the students, teachers, parents and education in general. The teachers could get their smaller class sizes which with social distancing if it is still a thing in the future will help.

 

But this makes way too much sense so I doubt it would even get pass the mentioning here to any form of government.

[DHonks]

The average spending for schools is something around $13,000 per student some sources have it as high as $16,000 per student but I will go with the old 2017 information where it was at $13,000 per student other sources are not all that reliable for the $16,000 figure.

 

Sadly, in AZ that number is around $7,000/student, I think. I think in Wisc that $13k number is accurate, if not a little low

[CheezWizHed]

The average spending for schools is something around $13,000 per student some sources have it as high as $16,000 per student but I will go with the old 2017 information where it was at $13,000 per student other sources are not all that reliable for the $16,000 figure.

 

So instead of the government spending this money maybe they should just give it to the parents as a stipend to pay for the schooling that they want. If they want their kids to attend a private school they can use it for that. A better idea would be to pool your money together and hire a teacher which for a teacher would actually be more lucrative for them. For example lets say 10 families with 1 child each decide to pool their money together and hire a teacher that teacher now has a salary of $130,000 instead of the average of about $40,000 I believe it is.

 

You could also change the tax code so that some of that salary would go to expenses and be written off. Unions could also create a co-op where their members could pool in their money using it how they see fit maybe the salaries for each individual teacher goes down but they can join a pool of workers and get health insurance and a retirement plan that is managed. I believe this would be a win for the students, teachers, parents and education in general. The teachers could get their smaller class sizes which with social distancing if it is still a thing in the future will help.

 

But this makes way too much sense so I doubt it would even get pass the mentioning here to any form of government.

 

I think most private schools are in that range of costs/year too, so I doubt there is much to gain by doing this. Plus it would be a logistics nightmare. I wouldn't want to interview teachers for all my kids each year as they move up in classes. Then transport them myself to multiple locations and back each day. Plus they would lose the ability to do specialized classes like music, art, and shop.

 

I doubt that would be any more cost efficient anyway; you are ignoring the overhead of a building, computers, labs, supplies, gymnasium, playground, lunchroom, etc... Public and private schools are intentionally co-locate classed together to take advantage of sharing those things.