by David Safier
You mean it's possible that "throwing money at education" can result in better educated students?
Five years after Maryland increased spending by $2 billion to provide greater academic equity, students have made remarkable gains in reading and math, according to a report given to the Maryland General Assembly yesterday by an outside consultant.
For every additional $1,000 spent per student, there was a significant increase in pass rates in both subjects. The improvement was twice as great for middle school students as for those in elementary grades.
I guess "throwing money at education" can work if you pay attention to where you're throwing it. Another term that comes to mind is "investing in education," but let's not quibble over words.
I would be a hypocrite if I took the study that came to these conclusions at face value. The phrases "studies show" or "this study proves" are the province of fools and snake oil salesmen. So I can't say for certain the study's conclusions are valid.
But I would also be a hypocrite if I said I don't want to believe it's true.
Here's something I know to be true, somewhere deep inside me (Studies of my soul and spirit prove conclusively that . . .). Increasing spending on schools is no guarantee education will be improved. But you can bet decreasing spending will lower the quality of education every time.
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