Dive Brief:
- New York spends $21,206 per student, which is 86% more than the national average for spending on schools according to 2014-15 data from the Census’ Annual Survey of School System Finances, reports Times Union.
- A great deal of the state's spending comes from providing teacher instructional salaries and benefits, with a rate of $14,769 per pupil, which is actually 114% above the national average for this category. California, with 6.2 million students in public K-12 schools and expenditure of $75.5 billion, is the only state that is spending more than New York, which is spending $64.8 billion on 2.6 million students in public K-12 schools, according to cited data from the Empire Center.
- Though its clear New York is spending more money on students, it is still not evident whether increased funding guarantees better student performance. In fact, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos made that point at an appropriations subcommittee this month.
Dive Insight:
A recent study out of Harvard University found that despite Baltimore having one of the country's highest levels of per-pupil spending, six of its city schools did not have a single student who scored proficient in math or reading in 2016. The study underscores a reality that funding alone may not necessarily lead to better student outcomes, and that a number of other factors — including students' neighborhoods, family backgrounds, learning styles, socioeconomic status — will inevitably affect educational attainment. The study out of Harvard, for instance, interviewed students and discovered that in certain counties of Baltimore there are outdated buildings and facilities, with little access to AP or advanced courses, and even some of the core curriculum appeared to be not be preparing students for college at all.
But when it comes to definitively saying whether spending more leads to greater student outcomes, the data is inconclusive. A study last year from the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that over time, states that delivered additional funding to their lowest-income school districts did see more academic improvement in those districts, reports the New York Times. Even another paper saw improvement with funding in long-term goals like how long students stayed in school or ended up earning as adults.
However, with an equal number of studies criticizing the idea of high spending improving student achievement — for instance a report on how funding increases in California’s public schools could not close learning gaps — it is evident that what's important is not how much the state is giving, but rather how strategically those funds are being directed and where. With New York, which is getting ready to offer free college tuition and now offering universal Pre-K, especially targeting some of its capitol city's most disadvantaged families according to the Washington Post, the case can be made that it has figured out how to more effectively direct funding in a model that other states could look toward.