Q&A of the Day – Does the US Spend the Most on Education?
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Today’s Entry: Brian, I have a question for you to consider for your Q&A. In the Trump-Musk interview it was said that the US spends the most on education. Is that true? We’re always told we’re never spending enough on education. That stat would be a shutdown argument if true.
Bottom Line: The term “wide reaching” has been used countless times to describe political interviews. Seldom if ever has there been a wider reaching interview than the recent Elon Musk – Donald Trump interview. One that was largely dismissed by many in the news media following an apparent denial of service attack that delayed the start of the interview by about 40 minutes. Dismissing the interview was a significant miss as the candid discussion of issues was easily the most informative in this cycle.
Among the many topics discussed during the interview was education. And most notably on the topic of education Trump advocated for the end of the Department of Education, suggesting that one of his first acts would be an effort to end it. If successful in doing so it would likely be the second most important policy of a second Trump administration, only topped by securing the border and carrying out what he’s characterized as the largest mass deportation event in our history. While discussing education Donald Trump also said that this country spends “more per pupil than any other country in the world”, while also highlighting how many countries spend less than we do while getting better results. And that takes us to today’s question.
There are a couple of ways of addressing this question. The first is the total per pupil spend for education at all levels (K-college). If you use that metric the US is technically #2 in per pupil spending behind the small European country of Luxembourg which has a population of only 653,000 people. Effectively, for reasonably comparative countries, the US does rank 1st in overall per pupil spending – Trump's statement is accurate. Breaking down education spending a bit further the US ranks 4th in K-12 spending (behind Luxembourg, Norway and Iceland) and 2nd in collegiate spending (to Luxembourg). And that takes us to the big picture proposal Trump offered up as a step in addressing education outcomes. As he stated he wants to eliminate the Department of Education by sending control of education back to the states. This is an idea I’ve advocated for my entire career. As I’ve previously reported... Getting rid of the Department of Education is a great idea. In my extensive coverage of education and mental health issues over the past two and a half decades I’ve laid out the case.
Entering 1980, the first full year of operations for The Department of Education, the average education outcome for Americans was 2nd in the world. Religious holidays, references and prayers were acceptable. Over the next twenty years, entering the 2000’s, we experienced a 300% increase in diagnosed depression. At the same time the United States slid to 17th from 2nd in grade school education outcomes and over the next twenty years we’ve fallen to 27th. It all directly coincided with the creation of the US Department of Education and the implementation of its various agendas.
According to the Pew Research Center only 6% of Americans didn’t identify with any religion or faith in 1980. More recently that figure has nearly tripled. But even a three-fold increase in atheism doesn’t tell the whole story. Over 26% of those under the age of 35 don’t believe in God. The proliferation of faithlessness connects directly to the rise in mental health issues in society which connects directly to the timetable of the onset school shootings – starting with Columbine in 1999. That was the first generation raised in the current, faithless public-school system under The Department of Education. What has the United States experienced over the past 44 years under the Department of Ed? Significantly worse education outcomes, a proliferation of mental health issues and subsequently more violence. And all at a significantly higher price.
The United States is currently spending an average of 40% more on K-12 education than the countries that are performing ahead of us. Clearly US educational performance deficiencies aren’t due to a lack of spending on education. Instead, there’s clearly a structural issue within the education establishment and as I’ve illustrated it is the education establishment as in The Department of Education.
Donald Trump’s statement on education spending with Musk was effectively correct and his position on the U.S. Department of Education is precisely correct. Without question the best possible federal education policy is the elimination of the Department of Education. Who, other than the bureaucrats involved, wouldn’t want better education outcomes at a lower cost? If Donald Trump is to truly make America great again, few policies would be more helpful in doing so than this one.