Budgeted Back Into the Stone Age ... or 1998 | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Budgeted Back Into the Stone Age ... or 1998 | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "According to inflation-adjusted federal data, in 1970-71 Americans spent $5,593 per public-school student. By 2006-07 we were spending $12,463 — a whopping 123 percent increase that bought lots of teachers, administrators, and other shiny things!

That said, even minor backsliding from this overwhelming trend could be truly alarming if increasing resources had been producing commensurate academic gains. But they hadn't — as starkly illustrated by 17-year-olds stagnant National Assessment of Educational Progress. In 1973, their average math score was 304 (out of 500). In 2008 it was just 306. In reading, their average score in 1971 was 285. In 2008 it was just 286.

For all our huge spending and staffing increases, we have simply gotten no positive return."