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That’s the key finding of a newly released Cato Institute study, State Education Trends: Academic Performance and Spending over the Past 40 Years.



Andrew Coulson, Director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, examined state education spending and state-by-state SAT score trends to show—for the first time ever—educational performance trends for every state, reaching back 40 years.

The study reveals that the average state has seen a three percent decline in academic performance, despite a more than doubling in inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending. More strikingly, every state school system in the country has suffered a collapse in productivity over the last 40 years. Essentially, there has been no correlation between state spending and academic performance.

Despite a substantial financial commitment to America’s children, academic outcomes have generally stagnated, and in most cases declined slightly. For the past 40 years, government has tried to fix American schools by investing more taxpayer dollars. This report suggests that approach has been wasteful and ineffective.

Read the full paper here and search state-specific data and trends by entering your state here.