Title: School Spending Is Not to Blame for Education Challenges | Issues 2020
Headings: Issues 2020: Public School Spending Is at an All-Time High
Issues 2020: Public School Spending Is at an All-Time High
The Narrative
Reality
Key Findings
Perception vs. Reality
Per Pupil Nearly Highest in the World and in History
Well-Maintained Schools, Well-Funded Teachers
Equitably Funded Students
Proper Arguments About School Spending
Endnotes

Content: and a move into teaching typically leads to higher earnings. Schools have become substantially more spacious in recent decades and federal data now report that only 3% of schools overall—and only 4% of high-poverty schools—are in “poor” condition. The typical private-sector worker experiences an 8% compensation increase when transitioning into education, while the typical teacher experiences a 3% salary decrease when transitioning into the private sector. Rising spending has not boosted teacher pay because the explosion in nonteaching staff has absorbed it instead; if the ratio of nonteaching staff to student enrollment had remained at its 1992 level, the money saved could have provided teachers with an additional $11,000 in compensation. 3. Increases in federal and state funding have largely leveled out property-tax-based local funding within states. Court-ordered changes to state funding formulas and federal Title I spending have effectively equalized per-pupil spending within states by race and socioeconomic status. Substantial interstate variation in spending exists but is not correlated with academic achievement. On the Record
“Misleading rhetoric has left Americans believing that we spend far less on education than we actually do.