Daniel Mitchell pokes at an oft-repeated, always-untrue canard about government education spending that popped up again in the New York Times last week:
Chrystia Freeland wrote an article about income inequality, making some decent points about cronyism, but also reflexively regurgitating talking points on class-warfare tax policy. What caught my eye, though, was this incredible assertion about government funding of education.
Educational attainment, which created the American middle class, is no longer rising. The super-elite lavishes unlimited resources on its children, while public schools are starved of funding. …elite education is increasingly available only to those already at the top. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama enrolled their daughters in an exclusive private school; I've done the same with mine.
So "public schools are starved of funding"? That's a strong statement. It implies very deep reductions in the amount of money being diverted from taxpayers to the government schools. So where are the numbers?….
As show in this chart, government spending on education has skyrocketed in recent years.
This data isn't adjusted for inflation or population, but you can peruse this amazing chart put together by one of Cato's education experts to see that per-pupil spending has skyrocketed even after adjusting for inflation.
