Want better public schools? Create competition, argues school choice expert

School choice guru Corey DeAngelis is all for Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency.

But the problem in education is as much misspending as overspending, he says.

“It’s no secret waste runs rampant through our public school system,” DeAngelis and coauthor Christos Makridis wrote for Fox News. “The U.S. spends over $900 billion per year on education for lackluster results.

“The current system is not serving the students, and makes teachers’ lives more difficult, so now is the time to start thinking about how to get bigger bang for our buck in the Department of Education. We need to inventory where current resources are going, and what outcomes they’re driving – plain and simple.” 

DeAngelis identified several factors making education inefficient, with administration at the top. National data shows schools are hiring administrative and support staff in far higher numbers than ever before.  

Since 2000, teacher and student populations have grown just 8%, principals and assistant principals by 37% and administrative staff by 88%. The result is more education dollars being spent outside the classroom rather than on students. 

Meanwhile, researchers have found teacher pay was stagnant despite huge increases in overall school funding. 

After adjusting for inflation, teacher salaries rose just 8% between 1970 and 2018, even though per-student funding increased by 152%.  

DeAngelis lays the blame for this trend on teachers’ unions. 

“The problem is that the public school system operates as a monopoly with weaker incentives to spend money wisely,” he explained. “But public-school unions do have a strong incentive to advocate for hiring more people. 

“Additional staffing means more dues-paying members and a larger voting bloc.” 

While government reforms are necessary, there may be an even more effective solution: school choice. 

“Injecting competition into the K-12 education system would put pressure on school districts to redirect otherwise wasteful spending into the classroom,” DeAngelis concluded. “Allowing parents to direct the upbringing of their children is the right thing to do, but it will also make America more competitive and make education great again.” 

Indeed, over two dozen studies have already shown the presence of a school choice program improves test scores even among non-participating public school students.