Are Public Schools Failing American Students?

Forty-seven public schools in Chicago have less than a third of the students they could have, and another 150 are half empty. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been spending more money that it takes in for years – and the Board of Education just approved even more spending. And as the budget grows, enrollment falls.

Public Schools Means Guaranteed Spending

The very nature of public schools is that they’re controlled and funded by the government – and that means taxpayer money. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had a total budget of $9.9 billion for the 2025 school year. The budget in Los Angeles is about twice that, at $18.8 billion. That comes out to an average cost of about $19,000 per student in Chicago and a whopping $45,703 per student in Los Angeles.

To make matters worse, classrooms are sitting empty – especially in Chicago – but city and state leaders won’t shut down schools and consolidate to save taxpayers money. So, why is it so expensive to keep schools running – and why are students spread so thin with so many seats left empty?

It largely comes down to politics.

Teachers Union Puts on the Pressure in Chicago

In 2013, when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 public schools, it was estimated the closures would save nearly $1 billion within the first decade because the city would not have to repair and maintain the buildings or pay salaries to staff them. Yet 21 abandoned buildings remain, some of which are dilapidated and often vandalized. To make matters worse, “the school board had to take out loans, in the form of bond issues,” to help schools take in displaced teachers. “CPS now pays $25 million each year to pay off those bonds, and may do so for as much as 20 years into the future,” explained NBC5 Chicago in an investigation last fall.

In Chicago, at least, very little happens without the influence of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). As the story goes, the majority of those schools could’ve stayed open if CTU’s leadership hadn’t persuaded Emanuel to block charter schools from moving onto those campuses.

Meanwhile, 30% of the seats in CPS’ open schools are empty, and 60% of the schools are underused. Enrollment in the district is down 9% since 2019, yet the number of CPS employees has increased 26%.

Big Spending Board in Los Angeles

The LAUSD Board of Education unanimously approved a much bigger budget than it previously had – which was already considerably more money than the district – and much of it is of questionable value to the basic education of students. There’s $25 million for the “Black Student Achievement Plan,” $26 million for “accelerated arts investment,” $2 million for “protection, awareness and training toward supporting LGBTQ+ students,” and $700 million to the “Student Equity Need Index.”

But this current $18.8 billion budget is considerably more than the $15.9 billion in tax revenue the district is expected to bring in. Where is the rest of the money coming from? Federal taxes – money pulled from people across the nation – many of whom live in entirely different states.

But Are Students Benefiting?

Enrollment in public schools is down across the nation – and especially so in Chicago and Los Angeles. Why? Well, many students are being homeschooled. Many others now attend private or charter schools. In the specific cases of these major school districts, a loss of population is also a problem, as many families moved away to find better opportunities.

But what about academic success? Fewer than one in three Chicago Public Schools students could read, according to elementary school testing in 2024, and fewer than one in five could do math at their elementary grade level. For high school, the numbers were even worse: fewer than one in four 11th-graders could read.

In Los Angeles, 43.1% of all students met the reading, math, and science performance levels expected by the state in the 2023-2024 school year – which means that more than half did not. And those numbers are falling. For the 2018-2019 year, it was 44.1%.

On the other hand, students who are homeschooled had higher standardized test scores and SAT scores than those taught at public schools, and statistics showed they were more likely to graduate from high school and to complete a college degree.

It’s no wonder public schools are losing students – but that isn’t helping the students who remain. Apparently, neither is the increased school spending.

1. Public schools across the nation are losing students and spending more money, making the average cost to educate each student increase.
2. Overall performance of public-school students is down nationwide, with the majority of students tested in Chicago being unable to read even in high school.
3. The number of homeschooled students has increased drastically in recent years, and testing and other statistics show they are more likely to succeed academically than their public-school peers.