College enrollment declined by close to half a million (463,000) between 2012 and 2013, marking the second year in a row that a drop of this magnitude has occurred. The cumulative two-year drop of 930,000 was larger than any college enrollment drop before the recent recession, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics from the Current Population Survey released today. The Census Bureau began collecting data on college enrollment in this survey in 1966.
Read the rest here
Illinois is a broke state and their teacher pension fund does not make things any easier on how it is contractually written. Yes, it is a contract and the state is honoring the pension as of right now. In the spirit of “States Rights” the voters of Illinois find their financial situation very pallable no matter the current conditions or what they will be facing as the physics of economics plays out. This blog is not making fun of Illinois but it also will not give pity to the residents when debt hell hits.
The Washington Times had a long article showing the ramifacations of this current penson plan that they operate on. I will post the key financial highlights of it while you can read the rest in the embedded link.
About 6,000 retired educators collecting more than $100,000
More than 100,000 retired Illinois educators had been paid back what they invested into the system just 20 months after leaving work
The pension is about $54 billion underfunded
The teacher pension’s 3 percent annual increases aren’t tied to inflation — meaning they cannot fluctuate up or down depending on the economy or budget pressures.
Illinois public sector workers will receive, on average, a $1,906 annual cost of living adjustment this year — nine times more than the average Social Security beneficiary
Indiana public schools are swinging into full gear and with that, their financial books are starting to get published in the back pages of your local newspaper. Most of their financial information from a broad spectrum is posted on the state website and can be found in the Department of Education “School Financial Reports” portal.
The debt held by public education has swelled in recent years in municipalities. For numerous years, Indiana school boards were able to pass tax increases and spending agendas without much say from the public. Since 2008 school boards must get these items on a ballot for voters to decide.
Here are some listings of a handful of school corporations around the state and how much “total principal” they owe. Time period covered is July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013:
Brownsburg $188 Million
Avon $236 Million
Indianapolis Public Schools $642 Million
South Madison Schools $69 Million
Greenwood Community $20 Million
Plainfield Community $127 Million
Greenfield-Central Com Schools $96 Million
Carmel Clay Schools $153 Million
Zionsville Community Schools $200 Million
Fort Wayne Community Schools $133 Million
Rochester Community $13 Million
Seymour Community Schools $22 Million
Vincennes Community $31 Million
Lake Station Community Schools $15 Million
Tell City-Troy Twp School Corp $24 Million
Fremont Community Schools $5 Million
Vigo County School $58 Million
The other day I was engaged in some conversation with a man about the social affects of what Communism brought to countries. We started discussing the old Soviet Union. In short, Soviet Union historically engaged in disinformation. One example was the government told Russian’s that America would stage “traffic jams” or “large gatherings” if saw the events on tv. He decided to share this story with me of what he experienced in dealing with people from the old Soviet Union. I am paraphrasing the story.
I was stationed in North Carolina in 1975. The U.S. decided to bring over some Russian troops to train with us for a short time. One weekend we had some down time so my Colonel decided we should take the Russian guys out to party. We took them to a dance hall and partied for a little bit. The Russians came up to us and stated we had staged the scene and it was all propaganda. My Colonel took the guys outside to his car, reached into his glove box and slammed a map of North Carolina on his car hood. He demanded that the Russians point to any city on the map and he will take them there and show that many other bars exist with people gathering. The Russians chose a city hundreds of miles away. So we started that way and stopping at several bars along the way. The Russians were completely blown away in what they saw and they also got pretty drunk.
While I personally would like to see Lois Lerner criminally arrested for lying to Congress and pulling her “my e-mails” disappeared, I will take this small victory being reported by the AP:
The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it. The House approved the cuts by voice vote after little debate Monday night as it took up a $21 billion spending bill that sets the IRS budget.
The IRS doesn’t need reform, it needs to be gutted. The pipe dreams of little fixes hear and there is over. Replace the IRS with a new tax code like the Fairtax.
Unfortunately the Senate led by Harry Reid will not act on this and just table it. More bad news, in a few years the IRS will be full tilt Obamacare enforcement so I would expect more scandals of bigger proportion then Lois Lerner.
If you ever debate public education with people you will sometimes hear the phrase “student-to-teacher” ratio as a source of need for more funding or for better teaching. JustFactsDaily.com released an e-mail with this question and the result may surprise you.
In 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Education, the average student-to-teacher ratio in public schools during 2010 was 16:1.
The National Center for Education Statistics also has information on student to teacher ratio in education.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, public school enrollment decreased, while the number of teachers generally increased. For public schools, the number of pupils per teacher—that is, the pupil/teacher ratio—declined from 22.3 in 1970 to 17.9 in 1985. After enrollment started increasing in 1985, the public school pupil/teacher ratio continued to decline, reaching 17.2 in 1989. After a period of relative stability during the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, the ratio declined from 17.3 in 1995 to 15.4 in 2009. The public school pupil/teacher ratio increased to 16.0 in 2010. By comparison, the pupil/teacher ratio for private schools was estimated at 12.2 in 2010. The average class size in 2007–08 was 20.0 pupils for public elementary schools and 23.4 pupils for public secondary schools.
Hoosier Econ 