Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.

Talbert’s aphorism reframes education spending as a question of total cost rather than sticker price. Paying for skilled teachers—through salaries, training, time, and support—may look expensive upfront, but ineffective teaching can impose larger downstream losses: wasted instructional time, remediation costs, student disengagement, and long-term impacts on opportunity and productivity. The line also implies that “cost” is borne not only by institutions but by students and society, since poor teaching can compound inequities and reduce human capital. In short, it argues for investing in quality as the more economical choice when outcomes and long-term consequences are counted.