It's one of the little inconsistencies in the reformster movement.
Some will point at charts showing that spending on public education has increased steadily (in constant dollars) and ask, "What have we gotten for it?"
There are answers to that question, including but not limited to A) more education for special ed students previously warehoused in some back room, B) better funding for previously marginalized students and C) more administrators, in part, to deal with increased gummint paperwork. The other part of the answer is that any taxpayer can demand a peek at the school district budget; you can find out where those dollars have gone.
I've only ever had one beef with accountability hawks. I believe taxpayers are absolutely entitled to accountability by their local school district. My argument is with the instruments used to assess what districts are doing (spoiler alert: the Big Standardized Test is a spectacularly bad accountability instrument).
But the real whiplash begins when some accountability hawks then stump for school choice and CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Accountability Whiplash
