Education by the numbers

In case you missed it, summer is over and schools are opening this week. It's time to catch up with old friends, meet new ones and adjust to a new daily routine.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were about 77 million people enrolled in schools of all types, and we spent $7.4 billion at family clothing stores last August to send them there in style. That's almost as much as we spent in the Christmas shopping season.

Some 55.5 million students are expected to be enrolled in elementary through high school this fall, and nearly 80 percent of them were academically on-track at last count, up 8 percentage points from eight years earlier.

The odds of being on-track were 48 percent higher if they were in a gifted class, and 34 percent higher if they had never been suspended or expelled from school.

A little more than half -- 52 percent -- of 12- to 17-year-olds were "highly engaged" in school, meaning they liked school, are interested and working hard. And, some 31.3 million participate in the National School Lunch Program in 2009.

Of those 55.5 million students who were in school, 11.2 million spoke a language other than English at home in 2009, 8 million of those speaking Spanish.

There's no shortage of schools, with 98,706 public schools at latest count, 33,740 private schools and 4,694 public charter schools. They funneled students into 4,409 degree-granting institutions of higher education.

Students were served by 7.2 million teachers in 2009, almost 3 million at the elementary and middle school level. The highest paid were in California, where they received an average salary of $65,800 in the 2007-08 school year. South Dakota teachers averaged $36,700 for the lowest, with a national average of $52,800. High school principals averaged $99,365 that year, while bus drivers averaged $16.44, custodians $14.59 and cafeteria workers $11.94 per hour.

There are expected to be 3.2 million high school diplomas awarded this year.

Once they've completed high school, some 19.7 million will go on to college this fall, up 14.4 million 20 years ago.

Of course, as a visit to McCook Community College will confirm, not all students are straight out of high school. About 16 percent of college students were 35 and older in October 2009, comprising 37 percent of those attending school part time.

Half of all 18- and 19-year-olds were enrolled in college in 2009, however, and 56 percent of all college students were women.

College is expensive, of course, costing $15,876 on average for tuition, room and board at four-year public colleges in 2008-09, and $40,633 at four-year private colleges and universities that year, more than double from 1990.

But the investment should pay off, with the average annual 2008 earnings of workers 18 and older with an advanced degree at $83,144, and $85,417 for an average salary offered to bachelor's degree candidates in petroleum engineering in 2009.

There are expected to be 3.4 million college degrees conferred this year.

Taxpayers spent an average of $10,499 per pupil for elementary and secondary education nationally in 2009, the most in New York, $18,126, and the least in Utah, $6,356.

Are we getting our money's worth? It's up to us -- taxpayers, board members, students and staff -- to make sure we do.