Why Public Schools Are Going Broke In The U.S. (youtube.com)
Public school enrollment has been down for 5 years, and they need fewer teachers and staff, but teachers have added staff since the pandemic, and the pandemic required staff for its added services. Cali has people leaving the state, which is a shift because Cali has historically been net inflation in. That means kindergartens need less teachers, but high schools aren't affected yet. ... Schools don't want to cut salaries or reduce staff yet, but they have less students, so they take a gap between funding (usually state and local dollars, plus some pandemic money printing ‘relief funds') and expenses. During pandemic funding, schools could put off addressing their unsustainable spending, but when funding stopped their administration became apparent. ... In Texas, since 2014, staffing is up 16%, and enrollment is up 6%. ... US in genereral has seen a steady decline in enrollment since 2014. ... 90% of school expenditures are for personnel.. .. A lot of the new hires are not teachers but rather are like counsellors and ‘support staff’ for students.