Governments Should Cut Red Tape in Schools to Free Up Much-Needed Resources, as COVID-19 Strains Budgets
New York, NY – October 12, 2020 – In the wake of a new analysis showing the extraordinary growth in administrators in America’s school districts, Philip K. Howard, Chair of the Campaign for Common Good, called today on governments at all levels to cut red tape in schools and free up resources amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He issued the following statement:
Government red tape has taken over America’s schools. It is diverting funds to administration that should go to improving schools, especially amid the budget pressures caused by COVID-19.
According to analysis of federal data by Education Next, growth in the number of school administrators has dramatically outpaced growth in the number of teachers during the past decade. Data on staff employed in public elementary and secondary school systems, for instance, show that, from 2000 to 2017, school district administrative staff grew by 59.6 percent, while the number of teachers grew by 7.7 percent.
Other data reveal that, from 1999 to 2019, there was a 45.5 percent growth in the number of education administrators (kindergarten through secondary), compared to a 5.4 percent growth in the number of elementary school teachers (except special education). In the same rough period, public school elementary and secondary school enrollment grew 7.4 percent.
It is time to cut government red tape in schools, reduce the burden of administration, and free resources to improve schools amid COVID-19. We need to reorder our priorities and put teaching ahead of bureaucracy. After all, isn’t that what education is meant to be about?
To speak with Philip Howard, contact Emma McKinstry at emckinstry@highimpactpartnering.com.
The Campaign for Common Good (www.commongood.org) is a bipartisan initiative to overhaul legacy bureaucracies. Its vision is to re-empower officials and citizens alike to use common sense in daily decisions. The Campaign’s Founder and Chair is Philip K. Howard, a lawyer and author, most recently, of Try Common Sense (W. W. Norton, 2019).