Between fiscal 1997 and 2004, the city of Norfolk school system lost 1,539 students, or 4.3 percent of its enrollment. If the logic of the private sector had applied, the school system would have trimmed its staff accordingly. But school systems function according to a logic all their own. Norfolk schools added 704 positions to its payroll, an increase of 22.7 percent.

Virginia schools are gripped by a productivity crisis, according to “Too Much of a Good Thing: Staffing and Students in Virginia’s School Districts,” a report issued by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. Norfolk was hardly atypical. Stated the report: “More than half of the state’s school districts — 68 in all — added instructional staff over the eight years although the number of students they had to educate declined.”

Advocates of higher educational spending argue that increasing the number of instructional employees is a good thing. More teachers for fewer students translates into a better teacher-student ratio; in theory, smaller class sizes improve the quality of education. But the surging number of teachers has not, in fact, resulted in improvements in student performance, the study observes.

Some blame the state’s “Standards of Quality” staffing mandates for the relentless increase in the number of school personnel. But the report suggests that “incremental financing,” the process of determining school budgets by adding or subtracting incremental spending from major line items, also is a villain.

Numbers junkies will find historic breakdowns on spending, staff and student-staff ratios here.

(Thanks go to Tim Wise, El Growler Grande, from the Arlington Taxpayers Alliance for the tip.)