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For anyone else who's wondering: the real number seems to be around $638 billion# (public primary and secondary education). The more you know. For fun I did a small Fermi estimate and got $400 billion, such a useful tool.

# http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66

Correct, federal education spending is more like $141 billion each year.

http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/education-fed...

That's why he used the word "needs" and not "status quo".