The educational expenditures of each state vary significantly from one to the next, but if we were to rank the states on their spending, New York and Utah are on opposite ends of the spectrum. New York is reported to have spent the most money per student, while Utah is said to have spent the least. This report shows that eight states exceed the national average of per-student spending by at least 40 percent. What’s even more interesting is that of these eight states, six of them were top-rated for educational quality in Education Week’s 2017 Quality Counts state-by-state report cards. The ranked list of top spenders, all the way down to the states that spend the least, can be seen here.
Seven of the states that spend the least money on education are also being ranked on the lowest end of quality education, including Utah. Though it can’t be claimed that the higher the spending, the better quality education, the data is nonetheless interesting to take note of. The Daily Caller News Foundation says it well – “While increased spending on public education does not guarantee improved performance, research studies indicate that increases in spending positively correlate with increased college attendance.”
Recently, our current U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has made claims that spending more money on schools will not positively impact student learning outcomes. “The notion that spending more money is going to bring about different results is ill-placed and ill-advised,” she said, and if this claim is taken seriously by our leaders in education, this could negatively affect the educational allocations of each state. Plenty of research suggests otherwise – that more school spending can actually be linked to positive outcomes for the students such as social mobility and higher graduation rates, and even improved test scores.
Having more funding undoubtedly provides more resources to schools, such as improved technology, higher teacher salaries, enhanced student lessons/experiences, and more despite what others may say. These resources positively affect how students perform, helping them maximize their educational potential. Conversely, a lack of funding serves as barriers to both teachers and students in how far their educational needs can be met.
As mentioned, it’s interesting that six out of the eight states listed as the top spenders in education are also at the top of the ratings for educational quality. Allocating more towards our education system is something that should be a priority for our nation, primarily since this directly affects our future generations. Though there’s no guarantee for improved performance, there’s also no evidence that higher spending on education produces negative impacts on our students.
