Prisons vs Schools? Really?

So, I'm going to solve a problem in one sentence for a local new channel. Sunday March 13th, I watched a story about how prisons get more money than schools, something along the lines of $18,000 per inmate, versus $3,800 per student.



Really? Here's my sentence: we house and feed our prisoners, and that costs a lot more than teachers and textbooks.

Done. Duh. Go back to grandstanding. Seriously, what a big pile of duh. If you'll allow me one more sentence, the state foots the entire bill for prisons and only a portion of the bill for education, and there are those that would debate whether education is the State's responsibility at all.

I should note that I taught, public high school, for about 9 years, I know what the state money buys.