I have mixed feelings about local control over education in this country. On the one hand, it leads to resentment about tax money going to those kids in Newark. On the other hand, local control means that people actually have debates about these matters at backyard barbecues. Anything that gets people to fill the halls of town council meetings is a good thing in my book.

Anyway, at one of these barbecues last weekend, someone wanted to know how much of his taxes went toward schools. I could give him percentiles at the federal level and at the local level, but I couldn't remember how much tax money went to schools when you combined all tax revenues. So, I just did a little googling to find a good chart. 

So, education is a nice sized slice of the pie, but there are bigger slices in there. Income security means pensions, welfare, and social security — pensions are huge. Health is medicare and medicaid. So, we spend much, much more for older people than we do for schools.

Here's a good FAQ about funding for K-12 education by the Department of Education.