Let’s Inject Some Pesky Truth Into The High Admin Costs Narrative

Education News

As discussions of Oklahoma’s education funding crisis heat up, it is inevitable that someone will start yelling about how public schools spend too much money on administration. They’ll talk about a handful of superintendents in some far-flung districts that make six figures, or cite a large number of principals ensconced at urban schools. Let’s stop with the uninformed anecdotes and take a look at some actual numbers, gathered directly from the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and presented courtesy of the Oklahoma Policy Institute:

Oklahoma’s public schools have relatively low administration costs

A breakdown of Oklahoma’s school spending by category shows that shuffling dollars around won’t fix the funding shortfall. There are simply not enough savings to be found from cutting administration to significantly improve funding for instruction, and even while spending on administration remains low, administrative burdens on schools have increased due to new mandates approved by lawmakers.

Related topics: Education Policy

About the author 

Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

I am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with an concentration in English Education and co-Editor of the Oklahoma English Journal. I am constantly seeking ways to amplify students' voices and choices.

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