NYC Education Department Raises Staff Funding as Enrollment Slips (spends $24K/student)

Wall Street Journal ^ | September 3, 2018 | Leslie Brody

[reaganaut1]

Funding for central office staff at the city Department of Education rose for the new school year, even as projected enrollment in district schools slipped and charter enrollment continued to rise, according to data released Friday.

The nation’s largest district expects to welcome about 962,000 children in prekindergarten through 12th grade when school opens Wednesday, down from 980,767 in the last school year. Officials attribute the decline to normal fluctuations as well as growth in charters.

Charter schools, which are publicly funded but run independently from the district, are projected to teach 117,297 children in the city, up from 109,882 last year. They will get more than $2 billion in tuition from city and state coffers this school year.

The district will spend nearly $508 million on central office personnel, up from roughly $471 million last year. Watchdog groups criticized the department for being plagued by too much bureaucracy and inefficiency.

District officials attribute the rise in spending to initiatives run by headquarters, such as literacy coaches, antibias training and helping staff teach computer science, as well as pay increases from collective-bargaining agreements.

Overall, the district will spend $32.3 billion, including debt service, about $867 million more than last year.

...

Total annual per-pupil spending for the city system will average $24,173, when central office expenses are included, and about $17,500 without them. But there are wide disparities in each school’s allocations. That is partly because extra aid is given to schools that have high numbers of children who need extra services, such as the disabled, English-language learners, students in poverty and those performing behind grade level.

[reaganaut1]

Spending half a billion a year on non-teaching administrative staff, and $24K per student? These are mind-boggling numbers. Some of the central office money is spent on Carranza's "anti-bias" training, discussed in an FR thread New York City Education Department Plans Mandatory Implicit Bias Training.

[Tax-chick]

Overall, the district will spend $32.3 billion, including debt service, about $867 million more than last year.

$867 million is just a rounding error to these people. I'll bet employees blow that much just on prostitutes and trips to Las Vegas.

[ridesthemiles]

I went to a one room school. 14 kids 8 grades 1 teacher with 2 years of college.

I don’t think they spent $2400 a year TOTAL on us kids.

I would also bet that at least 50% of those students got SOME college education & 25% of the total got a 4 year college degree or higher.

[Tax-chick]

In those days, students learned to read and do math.