Bush's disinvestment in American education

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20080903
The amount of money the US spent on investing in educational facilities dropped from $34.9 Billion dollars in 2001 to 20.3 Billion dollars in 2007. This is just one of the absolutely horrible legacies of the Bush administration has left us.

The feds shouldn't be spending a dime on the dept. of education.
They have yet to educate anyone.

The numbers posted are the total investment in our schools by state,local and federal governments. If you take an average of $30 Billion per year, that amounts to $210 Billion dollars spent on educational facilities during the Bush years. Contrast that number with the $700 Billion dollars that was just used to bailout out financial institutions that made poor loans. Our country cannot thrive when our leadership makes such poor decisions on how to allocate our resources. Education increases productivity. I guess what you have to ask yourself is how do we want to spend our money, building schools and creating a better future or building prisons and training soldiers?

From Dept of Ed web site

Quote :

Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States. It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation. The structure of education finance in America reflects this predominant State and local role. Of an estimated $1 trillion being spent nationwide on education at all levels for school year 2007-2008, a substantial majority will come from State, local, and private sources. This is especially true at the elementary and secondary level, where just over 91 percent of the funds will come from non-Federal sources.

Quote :

The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems.

The feds should return to this mission instead of wasting money on more layers of bureaucrats

Bill B wrote:

From Dept of Ed web site

Quote :

Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States. It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation. The structure of education finance in America reflects this predominant State and local role. Of an estimated $1 trillion being spent nationwide on education at all levels for school year 2007-2008, a substantial majority will come from State, local, and private sources. This is especially true at the elementary and secondary level, where just over 91 percent of the funds will come from non-Federal sources.

Quote :

The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems.

The feds should return to this mission instead of wasting money on more layers of bureaucrats

The difference in between the figures that you presented and what I posted is your link looks at total spending,
which includes salaries,utilities,pensions,etc. where I was looking at capital investments in facilities. From what I have seen,the feds have been on a mission to slash funding for education since the Reagan years. Programs like the No Child Left Behind program are designed to slash spending on education. So, I guess you and I agree on this issue that the Feds would should return to their original role of fostering effective school systems. That could include making sure every child in this country attends school systems with facilities like Munster has. It would lift a huge burden from local communities if the feds funneled money into capital projects.