How Much Would Completely Federally Funding Education Cost?

[Free Bird]

Let's say an amendment magically passed mandating that all education, K-Public College, be federally funded, Finland style, taking that burden off the States. How much would that cost, and is it a fundamentally good idea?

[Ebsy]

I don't think constitutional amendments are a good way to make public policy.

[Free Bird]

I don't think constitutional amendments are a good way to make public policy.

Well without one the funding would be more unconstitutional than what funding there is already is

[Blue3]

States would be able to significantly reduce or abolish local property taxes, and school funding would no longer depend on how rich the neighborhood is, so there might actually be equal opportunity in our education system at last. Also, by pooling everything together, it would probably be cheaper overall.

Good idea overall.

[Adam Griffin]

Spending the exact same amount of money in the exact same way on the exact same number of people:

$620 billion for K-12
$500 billion for postsecondary
-----------------------
$1.12 trillion

Of course, federalizing postsecondary education in a universal sense would dramatically lower the cost; fundamentally, it shouldn't cost much more per pupil than the rest of the system does. Assuming that, you'd cut the cost of college in half; a grand total in expenditures of $850 billion.

[Orser67]

I'm sure it would cause a lot of complications, but personally I'd support it as a way to help lift people and neighborhoods out of poverty, since a federally-funded education system would almost certainly lead to more equally-funded schools.