Holly Hasten Jarovsky

“So, my goal as an educator and a parent is to provide a neutral playing field for all students, so that they can represent their culture, their ideas and their beliefs in an environment that is free of judgment for either side.”

“The current financial situation affecting universities works against students.”

“University spending is out of control, but it’s on the administrative side. I taught in a university before transitioning to a liberal arts college, but our budget was horrible. It was probably 98% salary.”

“We had almost no money for resources, books, supplies, etc. In higher education, the costs are inflated and continuing to rise, but it’s not translated to the teaching staff. It’s not translated necessarily to the students by way of resources. It’s spent on additional staff, directors, assistants and that administrative stuff. The funds are not directly impacting actual educational outcomes.”

“And that’s what I think people don’t realize. Yes, your costs are rising, but it is not improving your educational experience. It’s so that we can virtue signal that we have a new director of a new social justice department, who makes $150,000 a year and then has the secretary who makes $45,000 a year and an office that requires furniture…. So, by the time you put all that together, it’s a $255,000-a-year expense added to the budget that has to get paid through tuition.”

“At the K-12 level money spent per student doesn’t directly translate to better outcomes. That’s where the myths about education spending are deceptive.”

“So, whenever you divide it all out, the question is, ‘What are you spending the money on for students?’ Are you spending it on actual educational resources, or is it $7 million that is simply in the superintendent’s cabinet because they have 15 or 16 different assistant superintendents?”

“All of those positions drive up costs with no direct benefit to students. So, the administrative overhead in pretty much every district is ballooning out of control currently.”

Holly Hasten Jarovsky
Director of clinical education, physical therapy instructor, Harper College
Lake in the Hills, Illinois