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The School Investment That Pays Everyone Back [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-21
Spend a week in a town with a great public school and you’ll find more than just kids finishing their homework. You see Main Street bustling, neighbors talking at Friday night games, and families putting down roots because the future feels possible. Public schools don’t just lift up students, they lift up entire communities, build stable economies, and knit together our sense of belonging.
Yet for decades, America has treated public education like a budget item to slash. Arts and enrichment become “extras,” teachers are expected to dig deep into their own pockets, and policymakers fixate on fleeting test scores instead of deep learning or real-world skills. We can and should do better.
This isn’t wishful thinking or nostalgia. Ample research shows that investing in public schools pays off for everyone, not just families with school-aged children. Well-funded schools fuel stronger economies, safer neighborhoods, higher home values, and greater civic engagement. The blueprint is simple: fund pre-K, guarantee healthy meals, treat educators as professionals, and ensure that every child, no matter their zip code, has a shot at the kind of education that builds both character and opportunity. The price tag is real, but the price of neglect is far steeper.
The Ripple Effect of Great Public Schools
Investing in K–12 education isn’t just about what happens in the classroom. Decades of research show that communities with strong public schools see higher incomes, less poverty, lower crime, and better health outcomes for everyone, not just students. Each additional year of K–12 education means about a 10% increase in individuals’ lifetime earnings, broadening the local tax base and generating higher economic growth (Education Law Center; The Hamilton Project). Those returns ripple outward: robust schools attract employers, help support local businesses, and can anchor a town even through tough times. Public education, in real economic terms, is a better long-term investment than almost anything else a community can buy.
Community Loses When Families Opt Out
When families head for private options, the public system loses more than tuition dollars. Every departing parent means one less advocate on the PTA, one fewer voter for the school bond, and one less neighbor steering policy at school board meetings. As private school enrollment has surged since 2020, that exodus leaves local schools serving more students facing higher needs, but with fewer resources and less social capital (Education Week).
It’s a tangible loss. The local accountant no longer shares brownies at the bake sale, the county engineer stops lobbying for the crosswalk, and parents from different worlds see less of each other at band concerts and back-to-school nights. That weakens the very social fabric that makes communities strong, leaving public schools to shoulder more work with less support, and deepening social divides.
What We’ve Lost to the Test-Prep Era
No Child Left Behind replaced a diverse school day with a relentless focus on reading and math scores. This shift crowded out time for the arts, science, social studies, and physical education, all essential for student engagement and well-being. As research from the National Art Education Association shows, high-stakes testing led to the elimination or reduction of arts programs, narrowed student experiences, and deprived many children of the enrichment activities that keep them engaged and motivated.
The result? A generation of classrooms suffocated by stress, where learning often becomes about avoiding failure instead of exploring possibility. Removing the test obsession means space for science labs, jazz band, drama, robotics, and real-world problem-solving. That keeps students engaged, improves attendance and graduation, and brings the joy and creativity back, not just for learners, but for the teachers whose days are governed by what really matters.
Early Starts, Healthy Meals, Lasting Returns
If K–12 education is America’s best investment, high-quality pre-K is the highest-yield asset of all. Long-term studies like the Perry Preschool Project confirm that every dollar spent on such preschool returns $7–$13 in economic and social gains, including higher graduation rates, lower incarceration, and increased earnings.
The same is true for food security. When school meals are free for every student—like Minnesota now requires—no child stands out or feels embarrassment, and participation soars. As JAMA Network Open reports, universal free school meals lead to healthier students, reduced stigma, and measurable gains in attendance and academic outcomes, especially for kids who might otherwise skip meals entirely. When every child shows up nourished and ready to learn, every lesson sticks better.
Treating Teachers as the Professionals They Are
Teaching is demanding, skilled work—requiring degrees, creativity, and resilience. Yet American teachers earn, on average, 26.6% less than their similarly educated peers in other professions (Economic Policy Institute). Nearly every public school teacher dips into their own wallet to supply their classrooms (Business Insider), and almost half quit within five years—bleeding schools of talent and continuity (Gitnux).
This churn is more than a morale issue; it costs schools $7–8.5 billion a year to replace departing educators (Breakfast Leadership). In countries like Finland, where teachers are paid and treated like valued professionals, recruitment and retention aren’t chronic headwinds, they’re solved problems, and school outcomes follow.
Ending the Zip Code Lottery
The way we fund schools in most states, using local property taxes, guarantees that opportunity tracks closely with affluence. According to the EdBuild “23 Billion” report, predominantly white districts receive $23 billion more a year than majority-nonwhite districts serving the same number of kids. Rural and high-poverty districts lag behind, unable to offer advanced courses or maintain safe buildings even as affluent neighbors debate adding second theaters or robotics labs.
A better way is right in front of us: progressive funding formulas, adjusted for real student needs and local resources, can help equalize access to quality, modern education, regardless of whether a child grows up in a city apartment, a small town, or out where the school bus rolls past cornfields.
Oversight and Building Trust
Funding alone isn’t a silver bullet. For schools to earn and deserve the public’s trust, communities must also know that every dollar is well spent and that decisions are made in the open. Too often, critics use isolated cases of mismanagement to argue for drastic cuts or even privatization, but gutting budgets only leaves children with fewer opportunities while rarely solving the real problem.
The better solution is transparency and genuine public oversight. School districts should provide clear, accessible budgets and share how resources are allocated, not just in dense financial reports but in straightforward summaries any parent or taxpayer can read. Regular, open board meetings and public comment periods make decision-making visible, while independent audits identify problems and build credibility when things are done right.
Some states now let people dig deeper—a parent or concerned neighbor in New York, for example, can use a publicly accessible return-on-investment tool to see how funding ties directly to improvements in test scores and graduation rates. The same spirit of openness empowers communities large and small to be partners in their schools’ success.
Put simply: trust is built through openness, professionalism, and making space for the voices of parents, teachers, and the community. When the public is engaged and informed, money is spent wisely, confidence grows, and everyone takes pride in the results.
The Real Cost—and the Real Return
No one says these changes are free. But the true cost of neglect shows up all around us: aging schools, neighborhoods losing their spark, businesses struggling to hire, and young people questioning their chances. Study after study finds that each public dollar invested in education pays us back many times over through a more capable workforce, stronger civic participation, and decreased spending on social programs (The Hamilton Project). It is clear from coast to coast: steady investment keeps towns healthy; chronic underfunding leaves communities diminished.
Think of your local school as a 401K, not an annual expense. Regular payments today provide for a better tomorrow. But when schools are under-resourced, the setbacks ripple through every classroom, household, and storefront.
This isn’t just another policy idea for the experts to debate. If you want change, start by paying attention: Ask your local officials how your schools are funded, and show up when budgets are discussed. Support needs-based funding reforms at the state level, and call on lawmakers to maintain transparency and real oversight. Vote for school board members and politicians who see public education as the engine of local strength. Lend your voice in public meetings or in the newspaper so leaders know you expect more than minimum effort for your community’s children and teachers.
Education shapes our towns, our futures, and our democracy. It is built or eroded through choices made at every level, by governments, yes, but also by citizens. We will get the schools we choose to stand up for.
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