Paying more and getting less

A 69 percent increase in spending per student since 1980 did little

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued "A Nation At Risk," which warned that American public schools were not producing results.

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today," commissioners wrote, "we might well have viewed it as an act of war."

Money was poured into education, particularly at the federal level. Adjusted for inflation, spending per student has increased 69 percent since 1980.

Americans now spend more than $550 billion a year on students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The total bill for a high school graduate is $100,000.

Despite this commitment - more than $9,200 a year per student - public school students are not making the grade.

The national test shows 33 percent of fourth graders and 26 percent of eighth graders scored "below basic" in reading.

The same national test found 18 percent of fourth graders and 29 percent of eighth graders scored "below basic" in mathematics.

In 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities, less than half the ninth-graders will graduate in four years.

The overall graduation rate is estimated at 71 percent to 74 percent. For white students it is 78 percent; for black students it is 56 percent; and for Hispanic students it is 52 percent.

Clearly, these differences affect opportunities.

Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, observed that throwing money at educational problems has not solved them. Federal control of education has not improved it.

He suggests a change in approach - starting "from the bottom up, not from the top down," he said. "It's time to slash the regulation and start creating the educational system our students deserve."

That beats throwing more money at a failed system.

http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/Editorials/200804300158