Fact Check: PA Cannot Spend Its Way to Educational Success

Today the Pennsylvania Department of Education begins day 2 of their “Tax You More” bus tour. Education officials continue to call for more spending when in reality we’ve been increasing education spending for over 25 years with no gains in student achievement.

Here’s the facts:

K-12 Public Education spending has skyrocketed:

• Since 1970, public school spending increased from $2.3 billion to $24 billion—a 956% increase.
• Over the past 25 years, per-pupil spending has increased 364% (vs. inflation of 141%).
• Under Gov. Rendell, state spending on K-12 education has increased 43%.

K-12 Public Education performance has stagnated:

• The average combined verbal and math SAT scores of Pennsylvania students has dropped from 1,000 in 1986 to 995 in 2008—even among “high participation rateâ€? states, PA ranks among the worst performing.
• A Rigorous academic studies have found little or no correlation between student achievement and class size, teacher salaries, or per-pupil expenditures.

Here’s footage from yesterday’s tour:

More Info:

Budget Facts 2009: State Education Spending (click here for a printable version)