Myth: Doubling the money spent on public education hasn't improved
it.
Fact: Public education has improved, even though the increased
spending has gone to other vital services, not general education.
Summary
The U.S. has doubled the amount of money spent per pupil between
1965 and 1993, but the money has not gone to direct improvements
for general education. Instead it has gone to special education
for disabled students, school lunches, transportation and dropout
prevention, all of which are indirect education benefits. Increased
spending on direct benefits, like smaller classroom size and larger
teacher salaries, have been insufficient to produce the desired
results. Even so, the last 30 years have seen some general benefits,
such as a lower dropout rate and increasingly better SAT scores
for minorities.
Argument
Irving Kristol summarized the conservative position on public
education thus: "Look at the spending on public schools.
It goes up and up, and the results go down and down and down."
(1)
It is true that between 1965 and 1990, the U.S. more than doubled
the amount of money it spent on each student in public schools,
from $2,611 to $5,521 in constant 1990 dollars. But it is not
true that the results have been a failure. Between 1970 and 1993,
the high-school dropout rate fell from 12.2 to 9.2 percent. (2)
And SAT test scores have been rising for whites and minorities
alike over the last 30 years. Paradoxically, the average SAT score
has fallen, because more minorities and lower class whites have
been taking the test, and they tend to score lower than advantaged
whites. But this is a statistical fluke, masking the advances
made by everybody.
Still, some critics would argue that these meager results are
insufficient, considering that we've doubled the amount of money
spent on each student. But in fact the money has gone not to general
education, but to other vital or supporting services. Of all the
increased spending since 1965, here are the programs that benefited:
Percent of increased spending on public education devoted to services
other than general education, 1965-1993
Smaller classes 33 percent (approximately)
Special education 30
School lunches 10
Teacher raises 8
Transportation 5
Dropout prevention 3
These programs account for well over 80 percent of all new educational
spending since 1965. It's worth examining each one briefly, to
show how they do not directly result in higher academic scores
(and may even lower them):
Smaller classes: Between 1965 and 1993, the student/teacher
ratio declined about 30 percent, and the average class size fell
to 24 students. This effort has required building more classrooms
and hiring more teachers. Although this has resulted in better
classroom discipline and management, experts believe that class
size must fall to about 15 students per teacher to achieve the
kind of individualized instruction that truly benefits students.
Special education: Since 1975, federal law has required
a "free appropriate education" to any child with a disability,
no matter how serious. The Supreme Court has also ruled that cost
is no object in providing such an education. By 1990, nearly 12
percent of all students were enrolled in special education. Obviously,
providing disabled children with an education is praiseworthy,
but it is expensive, and it would do nothing to raise the SAT
scores of able-bodied students bound for college.
School lunches: Providing children with nutrition is an
indirect, not direct, academic benefit. Originally it was intended
to keep students healthy, avoid the distraction of hunger, and
provide an incentive for poor children to attend school. However,
these benefits have been counterbalanced by an alarming rise in
child poverty since 1965. Today, nearly a quarter of all children
live in poverty.
Teacher raises: Teacher salaries have grown less than 1
percent a year between 1965 and 1990, from $27,221 to $32,977
in constant 1990 dollars. In theory, raising teacher salaries
should attract more competent teachers. However, the growth in
teacher salaries has been less than the growth in other professional
fields requiring a college degree, which draws the best talent
away from teaching. Furthermore, women have greatly expanded their
career choices since 1965, and are no longer bound to the teaching
profession. Not surprisingly, public education has seen a drain
of its best female teachers.
Transportation: Between 1965 and 1989, the share of students
who took a bus to school rose from 40 to 59 percent. The cost
per student also rose, from $214 to $390 in constant 1990 dollars.
Ironically, this program would reduce the average SAT score, since
upper class children (who normally score higher) already have
reliable transportation to school. Busing allows more lower class
children to attend and complete school -- which results in lower
average scores.
Dropout prevention: Spending more money on truant officers
and dropout prevention programs also reduces the average SAT score,
since it encourages many poor students to remain in school who
would have otherwise dropped out. The very success of this program
ironically gives conservatives an argument that spending more
money only results in falling test scores.
In conclusion, most of the increased spending on public education
in the last 30 years has been for programs that only indirectly
affect educational outcomes at best. (And in the direct cases,
like smaller classroom size and larger teacher salaries, the funding
has been insufficient.) Liberals do not claim that spending of
this type is intended to improve SAT scores, and conservatives
are mistaken in assuming that they do.
Return to Overview
Endnotes:
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all facts and quotes in this essay
come from Richard Rothstein, "The
Myth of Public School Failure,"
The American Prospect, no. 13, Spring, 1993.
2. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, P20-479
and earlier reports. A dropout is defined as a person aged 14
to 24 who is not in regular school and has not completed the 12th
grade nor received a general equivalency degree.