Department Steals Money
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) current rankings show that the United States ranks second in spending on education. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is the test used to rank skills. OECD says “Every three years, it assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society.”
The composite reading test score for American students is 500 ranking them at 13. These same students are ranked at 23rd on math, scoring 478 and 15th on science with a score of 502. Luxembourg, the only country to spend more on education does even worse except at math. Reading, Math, and Science scores are 472, 489, and 484; giving them rankings of 27th, 22nd, and 27th respectfully. Just for the sake of comparison, Mexico ranks 31 on all the test areas and they are able to do that spending about 20% of what the USA does.
Finland and Korea which spend about half what the United States spends, out performs the United States across the board. Korea ranks number 20 in spending, first in reading and math and comes in at third in science. Meanwhile Finland at the number 17 spot in spending ranks second in reading and math and comes in at first in science.
We are able to arrive at several conclusions from this data. For the amount of money that we are spending on education, we are not getting our money’s worth. Second, it seems that what works best is thrift and accountability.
Our local school boards are supposed to be the accountability check point. However over the years they have become the rubber stamp of Department of Education in Washington. The Washington key to success seems to be amount of money spent. We need to spend more on schools.
Using NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) test numbers for grade 8 students would give one a surprise. New York and the District of Columbia, which are two of the biggest spenders on students, should have the highest scores in math and reading. However New York ties for position 30 in math and reading. The District of Columbia ranks take the bottom spot of 51, out of 51, in both math and reading.
Colorado for half the money per pupil is only 6 points behind New York in math and 2 points higher on the reading test. That shows us that New York investments are not paying off. There is no better time than now to look at the Department of Education and say time to cut.
The spending that has come from Washington has not paid off. With money problems in Washington and a need to make cuts, here is an excellent place to start. By trimming back most, if not all of the Department of Education, that money could be returned to the states directly and costs for operating the Department offices and related employee expenses could be saved.
Some of the rural areas that get the least funding have the highest testing scores. Parent involvement is the key not funding
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