tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post113881017162888963..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: The Bane of a Budget SurplusScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1138911608388434692006-02-02T13:20:00.000-07:002006-02-02T13:20:00.000-07:00I'm with Mark. Tom, I fear you've fallen into the...I'm with Mark. Tom, I fear you've fallen into the more-money-is-better trap. Your article, while true, does not address the real problems with our education system. In inflation-adjusted dollars, we spend over 400% more for public education today than we did 45 years ago, but our outcomes are much worse than they were 45 years ago.<BR/><BR/>Almost everything that we pay money for costs less in inflation-adjusted dollars than it did 45 years ago ... except for governmet programs. Why is that? While the cost of education has recently increased even as funding has fallen, the problem is that we are spending a lot of that money on the WRONG THINGS, not that there isn't enough money.<BR/><BR/>Merely increasing funding without fixing the base problems only perpetuates and grows the problems. It also does nothing to address the problem I noted in my article -- that the current boom cycle will end and we should prudently prepare for that time, rather than merely chucking more money into programs that in the minds of some will be perpetually under funded.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1138901295906137532006-02-02T10:28:00.000-07:002006-02-02T10:28:00.000-07:00I'd like to get something back. I'd like to see g...I'd like to get something back. I'd like to see government shrink rather than grow.<BR/><BR/>Yet, I'm still not convinced public education is being funded adequately. (See an article I wrote last year <A HREF="http://www.utahpolitics.org/archives/010038.shtml" REL="nofollow">detailing increased costs without comparable increases in funding</A>.)<BR/><BR/>My desire for improved public education is greater than my desire for a refund.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1138862093117513422006-02-01T23:34:00.000-07:002006-02-01T23:34:00.000-07:00The whole situation drives me nuts. What we were ...The whole situation drives me nuts. What we were spending three years ago was just fine, but now we find tax receipts taking off and now what was enough 3 years ago just simply won't do anymore. I don't understand it. I can understand a little extra spending to build up infrastructure(roads, schools, prisons, courthouses, etc.) to account for growth but massively increasing baseline spending is insane. Just as the article pointed out we merely need observe the mess that California is to make this case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com