The U.S. Economy Needs Fewer Public School Jobs, Not More

Andrew J. Coulson "Over the past forty years, public school employment has risen 10 times faster than enrollment (see chart). There are only 9 percent more students today, but nearly twice as many public school employees. To prove that rolling back this relentless hiring spree by a few years would hurt student achievement, you’d have to show that all those new employees raised achievement in the first place. That would be hard to do… because it never happened." Andrew J. Coulson is the director of Cato's Center for Educational Freedom.