So what have we got in education for 1,300 extra Ministry of Education bureaucrats, all paid more than a teacher at the top of the scale? Nothing; $2,138 extra, and education is going backwards. We're going backwards in the Programme for International Student Assessment. We're going backwards in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. We're going backwards in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Every one of the measures of how well our kids are prepared to navigate the 21st century is going backwards, including whether they even show up to school in Te Tai Tokerau, where the alleged Associate Minister of Education lives and purports to represent.