A good expenditure of scarce school funds?

The Paducah Sun reports (subscription) that the McCracken County Public School District’s employees are going to hear a motivational speech from Ron Clark. Clark is an educator known nationally for his work to motivate elementary students. He gained national attention in 2006 when a made-for-television movie highlighted his story.

In any event, while schools across Kentucky whine about tight funding this year, the price for Clark’s one-time, 90-minute presentation works out to $16,000 for Clark plus an added $1,750 for auditorium rental and snacks and drinks for the attendees.

Wow! Who says education doesn’t pay?

Anyway, Clark normally hangs out in his PRIVATE school down in Atlanta. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Clark’s PRIVATE school spends twice as much per student as Georgia public schools do to educate each child. It works out to $18,000 a year per student.

Somehow, I don’t think McCracken County is going to be able to emulate spending per student at that level.

I think a lot more economical lessons could be learned from the leader of a good KIPP charter school, instead. Unlike Clark’s expensive private school, KIPP academy funding is generally similar to, or even lower than, regular public school costs.

In any event, check out what his home town paper has to say in an article titled “Ron Clark Academy success comes at a price few schools can afford.”

Clark may have some great ideas to offer, but somehow I get the feeling that Kentucky taxpayers are just going to wind up footing most of the bill for a kid to attend a private school in Georgia, with little to show for it in Kentucky.