A post from guest blogger and Fordham Director of Ohio Policy and Research Suzannah Herrmann.
As Stafford mentioned, we just returned from the National Press Club. Since today's presentation by the National Working Group on Funding Student Learning has some interesting implications for state policy, I thought I'd throw in my perspective on what this report could mean for policy in Ohio, Fordham's other base.
The report notes up front that "states will never educate all students to high standards unless they first fix the finance system that support's America's schools." This is not the same thing as calling for more money for schools, but rather it is a call for making sure we get more from the $500 billion Americans already spend annually on elementary and secondary education. This call has special resonance in our home state of Ohio where the Governor has staked his administration's reputation on "fixing" the state's school funding system. Ohio is one of 20 states that have been deemed "unconstitutional" by state high-court judges because funding levels were deemed insufficient. This report "Funding Student Learning" notes that between 1990 and 2005, average inflation-adjusted expenditures on education in America increased 29% to almost $11,000 per student. In Ohio, ten years (1997 to 2007) saw state per-pupil expenditures, using inflation adjusted dollars, rise 25% (from $7,500 to about $10,000). We must get more out of our educational spending and this report by the National Working Group on Funding Student Learning provides important guidance on how to start doing this. You can read the whole report??here.