Does increased spending on Education lead to higher performance? 


*******Go to 2009 State SAT Scores List  for the latest SAT results.*********

This question was raised in prior posts. 

I thought you might find these 2 charts interesting.  Best and Worst States For Education Spending ranks all states by spending and shows the SAT Score Rank of its students. I also have attached a Chart from  Heritage that shows that the best funded cities do not have the highest graduation rates.

The more money spent clearly does not show up in higher SAT scores or graduation rates. 

New Jersey spends the most money.  Its SAT score rank is 33 .  New York, at 2nd on the money spend, ranks 44th on SAT scores.  The "Worst" State for Education Spending is Utah yet its students rank 20th on the SAT score list above NY and New Jersey. Utah spends about 1/3 the dollars of NY and New Jersey.  Its students do better than all of the Top 10 spenders on Education.  Utah may be considered a Best State for Education considering its bang for the dollar.

Arizona is the next lowest spend state yet ranks 29th on the SAT Scores list.  Arizona students perform better than the top 6 spenders.  Mesa, AZ which is at the bottom of the Heritage list of city spends has a graduation rate of 77.1%.  Mesa spends only 40% of Boston which has a much lower graduation rate of 57%.

Clearly money is not the only factor that impacts educational performance.  You may want to consider carefully your state's approach to education.  It appears more dollars on education does not lead to better results.  Tell your political leaders you want accountability for results not just money spent.

	State	Ed Spend	SAT Rank
1	New Jersey	15,033	36
2	New York	14,593	44
3	DC	14,214	50
4	Connecticut	13,059	31
5	Vermont	12,749	30
6	Rhode Island	12,425	41
7	Massachusetts	12,398	29
8	Delaware	11,619	43
9	Alaska	11,551	33
10	Maine	11,014	51
11	Pennsylvania	10,900	45
12	Wyoming	10,852	16
13	Maryland	10,682	37
14	New Hampshire	10,405	26
15	Wisconsin	10,388	6
16	Michigan	9,947	13
17	Ohio	9,936	23
18	West Virginia	9,609	32
19	Hawaii	9,581	48
20	Indiana	9,498	38
21	Illinois	9,473	2
22	Virginia	9,463	34
23	Nebraska	9,365	9
24	Minnesota	9,284	3
25	Montana	8,661	22
26	Oregon	8,595	27
27	Georgia	8,589	46
28	Iowa	8,479	1
29	Kansas	8,440	7
30	California	8,418	35
31	Missouri	8,368	4
32	New Mexico	8,342	21
33	North Dakota	8,337	7
34	Colorado	8,334	18
35	Washington	8,218	25
36	Louisiana	8,167	14
37	Arkansas	8,156	11
38	South Carolina	8,039	49
39	South Dakota	7,949	5
40	Texas	7,716	42
41	Florida	7,683	47
42	Kentucky	7,595	15
43	Alabama	7,532	19
44	North Carolina	7,352	41
45	Tennessee	7,295	10
46	Nevada	7,246	41
47	Oklahoma	7,039	12
48	Mississippi	6,973	17
49	Idaho	6,729	24
50	Arizona	6,586	29
51	Utah	5,555	20

Sources:  Dept of Education.  Spending not regionally adjusted.  College Board.




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