The United States
Department of Education (ED or DoED) is a cabinet-level department of the US
Government. Under the United States ED is the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) which is the main entity for the collection and analysis of
data related to US education.Total of Schools, Students,
and Teachers The NCES is the agency
responsible for the statistics concerning the total number of educational
institutions in the United States. In the period 2011 to 2012, there were
98,328 public schools which consisted of 66,689 elementary schools, 24,357 high
schools, 6,311 schools offering both, and 971 other institutions. There were
30,861 private schools and 7,234 postsecondary title IV institutions. There were
4,706 degree-granting schools, of which 1,738 colleges offered 2-year courses
and 2,968 colleges offered 4-year courses. For the number of students
in the United States, there were 35,062,000 public elementary school pupils (pre-K
to grade 8) in the year 2014. In 2014 also, it was recorded that the US had
14,689,000 public secondary school pupils (grades 9 to 12). In 2011, there were
3,976,960 private elementary school pupils (K to grade 8) and 1,291,130 private
secondary school pupils (grades 9 to 12). In 2012, there was a total of
20,642,819 higher education enrollment reported. The latest statistics
regarding educational institutions from NCES are from the school year
2012-2013. It was reported that the number of operating public elementary and
secondary schools and agencies had a total of 98,454 while the non-operating
schools and agencies had a total of 2,391. The operating schools and agencies
consisted of 89,031 regular schools, 2,034 special education schools, 1,403
vocational education schools, and 5,986 alternative education schools. In terms
of enrollment and employment, there were 49,771,118 students and 3,109,101
teachers, resulting in pupil-teacher ratio was 16:1.Funds and Expenditures In 2011, total public
school expenditures were at $607.2 billion. The expenditures were divided into
current expenditures ($525.5 billion), instruction ($321.9 billion), support
services ($182.3 billion), food services ($19.9 billion), enterprise operations
($1.2 billion), capital outlay ($55.6 billion), and interest on school debt
($17.8 billion). The total funding for
public education was $597,485,869,000. It consisted of federal funding which
was $75.99 billion (12.7% of total), state funding which was $259.8 billion
(43.5% of total), and local funding which was $261.7 billion ($43.8% of total). In 2011, the average
district school per pupil expenditure was $13,041, the average online school
per pupil expenditure was $6,400, and the average blended online and on-site
school expenditure was $8,900. In 2010, the average private school tuition was
$8,549 (elementary $6,733, secondary $10,549, and combined $10,045), and the
average Catholic school tuition was $6,108 (elementary at $4,944, secondary at $7,826,
and combined at $9,066).Salaries and Wages of School
Employees The data for salaries and
wages of school employees were also collected. The public school administrators
or the superintendents were paid $161,992. The public school principals were
paid $102,191 in high school, $95,426 in middle school or junior, and $89,951
in elementary school. The public school assistant principals were paid $79,391
for high school, $76,503 for middle school or junior, and $71,192 for
elementary school. For the public school professional personnel: the counselors
were paid $53,610, the librarians were paid $55,370, and the school nurses were
paid $65,470 on the average. The average teacher base salary was $49,630 for
public schools and $36,250 for private schools. For the public school support
staff: the secretaries were paid $35,330, the accountants were paid $35,170,
and the teacher aides were paid $23,640. The hourly wage rates of the other
employees include: $10.73 for custodians, $8.84 for cafeteria workers, $14.21
for school bus drivers, and $12.89 for library clerks.Back to School Predictions
for 2015 The NCES predicted the back
to school statistics for 2015. They said that around 50.1 million students will
attend public elementary and secondary schools. Of this number, 35.2 million
students will be in prekindergarten up to grade 8 and the remaining 14.9
million students will be in grades 9 to 12. Another 4.9 million students will
be attending private schools. The 2015 enrollment is expected to be higher
compared to the 2014 enrollment which had 50 million students. Of the 50.1 million public
school students, white students will account for 24.7 million. The remaining
25.4 million students will be composed of 13.1 million Hispanic students, 7.7
million African-American students, 2.6 million Asian or Pacific Islander
students, 0.5 million Native American or Alaska Native students, and 1.5
million students from other races. The percentage of white students will
decline during the 2015 enrollment compared to the 2014 enrollment since the
other races will be continuously migrating to the United States. This is
expected to happen at least until 2024. Public school systems will
hire around 3.1 million full-time-equivalent (FTE) teachers so that the
pupil-teacher ratio will remain at 16:1—the same ratio that has been in place
since 2000. Around 0.4 million teachers will work in private schools resulting in
a pupil-teacher ratio of 12.5:1, which is lower than the year 2000 ratio of
14.5:1. For the school year 2015 to
2016, the government will spend $634 billion. This will cover the salaries of
school employees, benefits, student transportation, books, materials, and
energy costs. The projected expenditure per student is $12,605. Around 3.3 million students
are expected to graduate for the school year 2015 to 2016. Around 3.0 million students
will be coming from public schools while the remainder will be coming from
private schools. In college and university
education, about 20.2 million students will attend for the school year 2015 to
2016. It will constitute an increase of 4.9 million students from the year 2000.
There will be a larger percentage of female students (11.5 million) compared to
male students (8.7 million). An estimate of 7 million students will attend
2-year institutions and an estimate of 13.2 million students will attend 4-year
institutions. There will also be an increase in the number of African-American
and Hispanic students attending college. About 1.8 million
bachelor’s degrees, 952,000 associate’s degrees, 802,000 master’s degrees, and
179,000 doctor’s degrees are expected to be awarded at the end of the school
year.Comparison of Earnings In the year 2013, the
median of the earnings of full-time working young adults with bachelor’s degrees
was $48,500. The median of young adults without high school diplomas was
$23,900 whereas the median of young adults with high school diplomas was
$30,000. The median of young adults with associate’s degrees was $37,500. These
reflect that young adults with bachelor’s degrees earn twice as much as those
who do not have high school diplomas or equivalent certifications. References:http://nces.ed.govhttp://www.ed.gov/http://www.infoplease.com/history.html https://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/
