In about 1948, the average cost per year for K-12 education was $80 which with inflation would be the equivalent of about $716 today. This statistic (1948) is from "Mathematics We Use Book One" (1948). In 2006 it was $9,683 (NCES statistic).
So here are some images depicting salary and spending per pupil. The two blue graphs/bar chart are using data from NCES (except for the 1948 stat, cited above). Of course salary averages are not as good of indicators as beginning salary due to step. column , and the variances of education and age of teachers...but beginning salary data was incomplete. The red and blue line graph is from http://profitofeducation.org/?page_id=122 which cites their source.
Make with the data as you will. I wonder where is the money going when it is not salary? Health care, perhaps but also more expensive textbooks, testing, and social services the school offers perhaps. However, you will see the College Entrance SAT scores have been slowly declining over time so all these fancy tests and textbooks and social services do not seem to be effective in my opinion....but a deeper statistical analysis would have to be done to know for sure. I'm not advocating less money towards schools or teachers, just that the money we're spending is not working. We need to keep money in schools, yes, but we need to fix the broken system first and foremost.
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