For decades, taxpayer spending on K-12 education has steadily climbed. This stalled during the Great Recession, but it is on the rise again. It is often assumed that this additional spending will be good for students, but the data suggest that increased funding by itself has little relationship to student achievement growth.
A new report from Michigan State University analyzed long-term education spending trends. The report found that in every state but two — Michigan and West Virginia — education revenue increased from 1995 to 2015.
This study criticizes Michigan’s comparative lack of school spending growth. However, adjusting for inflation, student population and considering all sources of revenue, the state’s education spending is at an all-time high. And that is despite one of the worst decade-long state recessions in U.S. history.
