There is a strong need for mental health care for our children in schools today. It truly is a problem since many of their parents have mental health issues as well according to some studies. Some of these issues also stem from cultural changes in our country and the changes in the educational system.
I question whether the federal Department of Education with its budget of $238 billion dollars in 2024 and 4,400 employees provides the necessary mental health care support needed by our children. The department cannot mandate state policy because the Constitution does specifically mention that authority and therefore under the 10th Amendment those powers fall to the individual states.
Most of the agency's power lies with the funds it provides to state education systems. That money often comes with certain criteria such as providing equal opportunity for disabled students.
If you look at students' ranking around the world, our students have fallen behind in the basic skill sets that should be taught, such as reading, writing, math and science. America has some of the best teachers in the world, and while it has been more than 40 years since I graduated high school and college, I recall all of my teachers and instructors pushing us to do our best. I remember my history teachers not only sharing the high points of our history, but also brought out dark times where as a country we made mistakes and had to learn from them. They would encourage us to talk with our parents and discuss what we learned and compare how life was when they were growing up.
Depending on sources there were around 54.6 million students in the United States enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade in both public and private school systems. Recent data shows the average state pays around $12,000 dollars per student to educate children in K-12 programs. The Department of Education allocates $79 billion for this age group, so the federal government is only spending about $1,446 dollars per student. However, by their own numbers, they are paying nearly $9,500 per college student on an annual basis. It is truly time to re- evaluate how this money should be spent, especially since the current administration tried to forgive various amounts of college student debt. It is time to overhaul or change the way we manage the mental health of our children, which is currently not working.
Citizens in each state should demand their legislatures enact policies to provide the money to educate and manage mental health issues. What if the Department of Education's 4,400 employees were turned into qualified mental health workers on the state level and distributed by the number of students in the respective number of students? Maybe it is time to change what has not worked and look for another way to spend $238 billion annually to improve the education and mental health of our children.
I have spent almost 50 years in the rail and electrical industry managing people. At the railroad my department managed an infrastructure with over 1,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines, over 1,600 miles of distribution lines and 86 substations. I along with my team had to look at what is working, make changes and figure out how to do more with less in lean years as we maintained a system that was more than 80 years old and failing. You have to look at everything in order to improve and not make the same mistakes that led to the condition we are in. While I was working and since my retirement, I served on several technical committees across the rail and electric industry, and we set the minimum requirements that are used not only in this country but around the world.
While the companies sponsor the members while we work for them, we are technical leaders in our field and many of us spend countless hours reviewing new standards or regulations on our own time because we have an interest in our industry and the safety of the end users. Maybe it is time to let the states require qualified staff to set the standards for education and mental health care for their children.