Just Send Money.

• Author: Lynch, Michael W.
• Position: Public school finances - Brief Article

To hear public school advocates tell it, the only real problem with schools today is taxpayer parsimony. As the country's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, claims on its Web site (www.nea.org), "Funding has not kept pace with dramatic increases in enrollment or with the rising costs of educating a diverse student body with varied needs."

Those needs must be exceptionally diverse--and pricey, too. According to U.S. Department of Education stats, real per-pupil spending more than tripled between 1960 and 1996 (the last year for which there are complete...