Loading ...Top Ten School Funding, Take One
November 16th, 2007Some community leaders suggest Nevada should set a collective goal of increasing our K-12 school spending so that we are one of the top-ten spending states.
That set me wondering what kind of performance increase we could expect from our schools if we did that.
So, using the NCES 2004/2005 “Current” spending per student data (which, alone, is not a valid tool for comparing Nevada’s funding with other states) to determine the top-ten spending states, I set about trying to gauge their children’s success.
There’re days of debate to be had on what defines school “success.” Over time, I hope to find several different measures to compare. But to get the ball rolling, I used another NCES source, SAT score averages of college-bound seniors, by state.
Here are the results:
| State | Funding Rank | Verbal Rank | Math Rank |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 50th | 51st |
| New Jersey | 2 | 40th | 32nd |
| New York | 3 | 46th | 39th |
| Vermont | 4 | 31st | 32nd |
| Connecticut | 5 | 33rd | 32nd |
| Massachusets | 6 | 32nd | 28th |
| Rhode Island | 7 | 40th | 43rd |
| Alaska | 8 | 29th | 31st |
| Delaware | 9 | 40th | 46th |
| Pennsylvania | 10 | 43rd | 45th |
Multiple states have the same rank because their average SAT score was the same. The average rank of the top ten funding states’ SAT average rank is 38th in both verbal and math. Nevada’s rank is 37th in verbal and 38th in math.
The only striking difference between the top-ten states and Nevada was the ranking of each state based on the percentage of high school graduates who take the SAT test. Nevada marks the middle, ranking 25th. The top ten states all push more graduates to sit for the SAT, as the average of their rankings is 8th.
Perhaps SAT results are a poor measure of public school “success,” but they are certainly one measure of public school “success.” And by it, the top-ten funding schools do not perform any better than Nevada schools do.
I welcome suggestions as to other school outcomes that may offer more hope.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Those community leaders are right, although they should also include higher education in the mix; the two are not mutually exclusive. Funding is extremely important, however, it is only part of the solution. We have an opportunity—in Nevada—to be number one in Education, but it will take commitment from all of us to achieve that goal. You contend that education is the great equalizer. Well, it is, but it is much more than that. Education is the basis for our existence; it defines us and our community. So, we need the funding and the culture to improve SAT scores as well as other types of tests that could show both the explicit and implicit value of education.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:06 am
My experience with the public school system vs a grade school education in Catholic school took me from A’s and B’s to
C’s and D’s. The public school system is a joke. They are more interested in teaching kids that bi-sexuality is the norm
rather than basic math, english, spelling, history, etc.
I hired some of the “brilliant” Nevada high school students at my business. The girls turned out to all be bi-sexuals, one
was dating a meth dealer and they broke in after hours and
stole everything I had forcing me to close the doors.
Another one I found out was selling fake id’s to underage kids. The lack of discipline in the schools combined with a
decades old curriculum and overpaid teachers who prey on students sexually all makes me sick.
Time to throw out the entire system, set up computers in peoples homes with the very best of the best to teach interactively online. Eliminate the public schools!!!
P.S. to Jeffery Justice, shut the hell up about your stupid
higher education. YOU PAY FOR COLLEGE FOR ALL THESE IDIOTS!!
I’M SICK OF IT!!! WHY SHOULDN’T THEY EARN THEIR WAY?????