The Cartel: Where Are Our Education Dollars Going?

Inez Feltscher Stepman / December 02, 2010

The Cartel, a searing education documentary, opens nationwide on Wednesday. The film, by director Bob Bowden, exposes where our multiplying education tax dollars are going. Spoiler alert: In too many instances, they aren’t going toward teaching children.

Bowden focuses on New Jersey, a state that spends over $17,000 per student annually. A few simple calculations show the real picture: Instead of being chronically under-funded, as union advocates claim, each classroom in the state costs the taxpayer between $300,000 and almost $450,000 annually. But the reality is that charter schools, such as the Robert Treat Academy in Newark, are far outperforming district schools on state tests—and doing it for 60 cents on the dollar. (more…)