When it comes to education, money does not always equal success.
An in-depth analysis by 24/7 Wall St. found that states that spend loads of money on education don’t necessarily yield higher-achieving students than those that spend less more efficiently. The impact of federal aid is inconsistent at best. Oftentimes, the results disappoint educators, politicians and parents.
Click here to see the states that spend the most >
The U.S. spent $10,498.66 on each public school student in 2009, according to the U.S. Census. The figure is a high as $18,126 in New York and as low as $6,356 in Utah. Surprisingly, Utah’s high school graduation rate is higher than New York’s.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed Census data on the amount states spend per student on education including teacher salaries and compared it with information on metrics such as graduation rates and standardized test reported by The National Center for Education Statistics, part of the US Department of Education. We then ranked the top 10 and bottom 10 spenders.
It is difficult to draw any conclusions from the analysis because the relationship between results and expenditures is so irregular. Front pages in American papers often carry news about heated battles over education spending. Teachers’ unions argue that their members must be well-compensated to produce strong results. Education experts often make similar arguments about the need to pour more money into school districts. This 24/7 Wall St. analysis underscores the flawed logic in that reasoning.
Click here to see the states that spend the most >
This post originally appeared at 24/7 Wall St.
10. Pennsylvania
Total Elementary-Secondary Spending: $21.2 Billion (7th most)
% Revenue From State Sources: 39% (8th least)
Amount Spent Per Pupil: $12,511 (10th most)
Graduation Rate: 80.5% (14th highest)
In 2009, Pennsylvania spent just over $25 billion on education, which amounts to just over $12,500 per student. The state spends the tenth most per student on employee salaries, but spends the 21st most on benefits for employees.
Governor Tom Corbett has proposed cutting the state’s K-12 budget by more than $500 million and freezing the salaries of public school employees for a year.
Pennsylvania’s graduation rate of 80.5% is in the top fifth in the country, while the state scores the sixth-highest in reading and the 13th highest on math according to 2009 National Center For Education Statistics (NCES) test scores.
9. Maryland
Total Elementary-Secondary Spending: $11.3 Billion (14th most)
% Revenue From State Sources: 43% (15th most)
Amount Spent Per Pupil: $13,449 (9th most)
Graduation Rate: 80.1% (16th highest)
Only 5% of Maryland’s annual education budget of $13.1 billion comes from the federal government, the third-smallest percentage in the country. In 2009, the state spent $11.3 billion on its 843,000 students, which comes to over $13,400 per student.
The state spends near this amount proportionally for most expenses, including salary for teachers. However, it allocates less funding toward student counseling, social services, and health care, and slightly more for staff support, which includes teacher training and audio/visual teaching equipment than other states.
In 2003, the Maryland State Legislature passed the so-called “Thornton law” which mandated a budget increase of $1.3 billion each year. Those increases expired in 2008.
8. Rhode Island
Total Elementary-Secondary Spending: $13.9 Billion (9th least)
% Revenue From State Sources: 47% (22nd least)
Amount Spent Per Pupil: $13,707 (8th most)
High School Graduation Rate: 75.3% (19th lowest)
Rhode Island spends $13,707 per pupil on education, the eighth most in the country. About $1,800 of this – more than any other state – goes to student support, which includes counseling, social work, and medical care.
According to The Providence Journal, Rhode Island is the only state in the country without a defined formula for determining how much funding a school receives. State Governor Lincoln Chafee has proposed a system which would calculate state funding on poverty and enrollment size.
Up to this point, state funding has been calculated based on property tax. This plan, if passed, is likely to reallocate money towards poor urban schools.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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