Education Costs and Results 
By John McClaughry

Each year the American Legislative Exchange Council publishes a thick document ranking the states on the academic achievement of their public school pupils. Here's the good news: Vermont ranked number 3 overall. But before we go out to celebrate, it's worth taking a closer look at the top five states.

Minnesota led the nation at number one. Perhaps the earliest state to embark on post -WWII educational innovation, the reform-minded Gopher State is the birthplace of public school choice (1980s) and the charter school movement (1991). In 1997 its Republican Governor and Democratic-controlled legislature adopted a bipartisan package of family tax credits and deductions for both public and private educational expenses.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests are given to a sample of 4th, and 8th grade students in all 50 states. In 2006-07 Minnesota students ranked second in 8th grade math, fifth in 4th grade math, eighth in 8th grade reading, and twelfth in 4th grade reading.

Massachusetts, long an educational leader, ranked first in reading and math in both 4th and 8th grades, but because the weighting formula involved other factors, it finished second in the rankings. Vermont at number three scored from first through sixth on all four reading and math scores. Number four New Hampshire did almost the same. Number five South Dakota was a larger notch further back.

It should be noted that the ranking distributions were very closely spaced. For instance, Massachusetts' first place in eighth grade reading (273) was only 12 points (half a percent) above the national average (261).

Only 42 percent of its students in Vermont' s best category, eighth grade reading, scored "proficient" or above. Nationally, the figure was 29 percent. One has to conclude that either the "proficient" standard is unreasonably high, or America's kids aren't getting much proficiency from their education.

The national average expenditure per pupil for 2006-07 was $9,295. Minnesota spent $9,366, less than one percent above the national average. Massachusetts spent $12,566, 35% above. Vermont (4th highest in the nation) spent $13,102, 41% above. New Hampshire spent $10,562, 14% above. South Dakota spent $8,077, 13% below.

The most glaring reason for Vermont's high spending is its low pupil/teacher ratio. Vermont had led the nation in this category since 1995, but dropped to second place when Rhode Island sharply increased its ratio in the past few years. Vermont's ratio of 10.9 pupils per teacher was 28% below the national average of 15.2. New Hampshire ranked tenth lowest at 13.2.

There are two reasons for Vermont's low ratio. One is a large number of small rural schools with necessarily small classes. The other is the profusion of teachers and aides, many of the latter put into the classroom to manage mainstreamed special education pupils.

Vermont's high spending is not due to high teachers salaries. At $35,771 on the average, Vermont salaries are 43rd in the nation. However Vermont teachers get very generous (tax free) benefits.

Policy makers and legislators concerned with Vermont's comparatively good results accompanied by very high expenditures might adopt an ambitious goal like this: "Vermont taxpayers will pay what it takes to keep Vermont pupils in the top ten in the four NAEP categories, and over 50% of our 4th and 8th graders will score "proficient" or above in both reading and math." (No state has ever achieved this latter benchmark.)

Once such an output goal has been set, the question is then how to achieve those results most efficiently. This brings in questions of school sizes, class sizes, curriculum, teaching methods, special education intensity, teacher compensation packages, governance, and more. It also raises the question of who intervenes when the students in a school are doing poorly.

The obvious answer to this touchy political question is the Florida A+ answer. If the kids at your kid's school fail to achieve a specified proficiency level two years in a row, you can take your kid and a voucher for $10,000 and find a public or independent school that provably does a better job. (The Florida A+ program is however overly complicated and currently under court-ordered suspension due to its inclusion of faith-based independent schools.)

With that standard and the A+ option, Vermont would soon meet its output goal. Creative programs would spring up all over the place to do what the principals and teachers at poorly performing public schools are unwilling or unable to do.

But if our state's educational goal is to keep on spending $14,000 per pupil to pay the Vermont-NEA teaching corps to do what they like to do for another year, regardless of outcomes, we don't have to make any changes - just keep paying.
 

John McClaughry is President of the Ethan Allen Institute