Arizona spends alot of money. We spend alot of money on education. Legislators are currently talking about cutting education spending to balance the budget. I strongly believe we need to always have a balanced budget. Here is how I recommend cutting educational spending.
Eliminate School Districts
Public Schools are organized like massive corporations. There are many layers of management supported by high profits (often protected by government regulations, but that’s another post). Teachers report to Principals. Principals report to Superintendents. But, superintendents have assistant superintendents. Everyone has assistants. There is an entire layer of bureaucracy that generates nothing. No teaching, no creation of wealth, just leaching. Don’t believe me? Tell districts they need to cut spending. Do you know what they say? Raise taxes or cut programs, both while whining about Arizona’s future, like Arizona will fall into a state of ruin without their school district’s overhead.
Superintendents make approximately $150-180k/year. Assistant Superintendents make approximately $100k/year. Paradise Valley School District has five assistant superintendents. If we can save $1-2million/yr by eliminating one district, we could save at least $150-300million/year. There are 150 school districts with websites known to the state of Arizona.
We don’t need school districts anymore. There may have been a time when that level of bureaucracy was needed, but not any more.