Transparency and Accountability for School Spending | 국외연구자료

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Transparency and Accountability for School Spending

AEI

2024.01.10

Three decades have passed since the enactment of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” During that time, per-student expenditures grew by 115% in constant dollars, but it was hard to know whether educational achievement was increasing too. And so, in the 1990s, assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress were deployed to measure things like fourth grade reading scores. Over the subsequent three decades, those scores improved only slightly while spending jumped an additional 50% in constant dollars. This expensively obtained, minuscule advance was later wiped out by COVID shutdown policies, and in 2022, fourth-grade reading scores dropped back to 1992 levels.
At the macro level, we now have decades of ever more precise data showing us that how money is spent is a far better predictor of student success than overall spending―most of which has gone to increases in staffing that haven’t produced better outcomes. These lessons can help us enact new policies that ensure educational funds―no matter their amount―are spent wisely and, if the case is made to spend more, school board members, parents, and taxpayers are able to ask informed questions so that they can determine whether this new investment will be worthwhile.

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