“There’s no good argument, really, against putting education at the front of the line when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars.”
–Chicago Sun-Times Editorial, 2/18/23
“We’re rejecting the idea that the answer to improving education is simply pumping more money into the same system year after year without making significant changes.”
-Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, 1/24/23, upon signing Iowa’s new school choice law
By: Mark Glennon*
Who has it right in the quotes above? Bring on the debate, which is long overdue in Illinois.
The presumption of Illinois’ political and education establishments has long been the same as in that Sun-Times editorial— that there’s no good argument against more money for K-12 schools. The presumption is codified in Illinois’ school funding formula, which sets impossible funding goals thereby assuring that most schools claim “underfunding” year in and year out. It was reflected most recently in Gov. JB Pritzker’s new budget proposal, which will direct an additional $350 million to K-12 schools though that’s not nearly enough as Pritzker and the Sun-Times see things.
But that broad presumption is false. As schools flounder, it has become ever clearer that indiscriminately spending more is not assurance of better educational outcomes. Instead, a hard, very specific look at what really works is needed.
One starting point is clear, which is that many of our schools are failing — and people are noticing. My colleagues have heard gasps from parents’ groups when they presented the data about the failure of their children’s schools, on which we published a detailed report.
Over just the past week, our single column on the Illinois schools in which no students are reading or doing math at grade level has received hundreds of thousands of pageviews and many citations in national print and television media. Our earlier, fuller reports, linked below, showed 622 schools where only 1 out of 10 kids or less can read at grade level. That’s 18 percent of the state’s 3,547 schools that tested students in 2022. And only one out of 10 kids or less can do math at grade level in 930 schools – more than a quarter of all schools in the state.
Illinois is not alone. Schooling failure – here and across the nation – was also shown last fall by the standardized tests by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which are published for fourth and eight graders for reading and math. The NAEP 2022 test scores plummeted here and nationwide. While much of that is attributable to school closings and remote learning during the pandemic, the downturn in fact began around 2012, before Covid hit in 2020.
More money hasn’t helped — in aggregate, broad terms, that is.
Illinois’ per student spending grew nearly 70 percent between 2007 and 2019, the most in the nation, based on data we reviewed from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s nearly two times more than the national average over the same period. The latest Census Bureau report shows total K-12 spending per student in Illinois was $17,293 in 2020, the 8th-most in the nation. The national average was $13,187.
Chicago’s spending per student is $17,041 as the Census Bureau counts it (though it’s almost $30,000 when you include a capital budget and all sources). Only 20% can read a grade level. For blacks and Hispanics, it’s just 11% and 17%, respectively.
Comparisons of Illinois to two states we have looked at closely earlier — Florida and Indiana — are particularly striking on spending versus results.
Illinois spent, on average, 68% more per student than Florida in 2019 and 56% more than Indiana. That’s $16,227 per Illinois student and $9,645 and $10,397 for Florida and Indiana.
Despite that additional spending, educational results are no better for Illinois. NAEP test scores are one way to compare results among states. Florida and Indiana registered NAEP scores at roughly even with Illinois, as we showed in our earlier report, from 2007 to 2019. The new scores for 2022 again show each state roughly even on balance. Charts from NAEP showing those comparisons, as well as the national average, are at the bottom.
Those comparisons, however, are between just three states. For a broader outlook, countless academic studies over many years have addressed whether more spending gets better results.
Those studies split. However, academics on both sides seem to agree that smart, narrow targeting on particular educational strategies is needed for results.
A good summary of recent research rejecting the connection between spending and results was published by Reason just last week, titled “Bad schools aren’t always underfunded.” The correlation between funding and school quality, Reason says, is extremely weak.
Why doesn’t more money always help schools improve? Mainly, says Reason, “the answer is that failing yet well-funded schools often simply aren’t spending their money wisely.”
Reason used the example of Carmel High School, an exceptionally nice facility with excellent outcomes in suburban Indianapolis. A brief, student-made video of the school went viral, attracting 34 million viewers awed by such a nice school. Yet, according to the Indiana Department of Education, Carmel High School in 2020 spent between $3,500 to $6,000 less per pupil compared to the four public high schools in Indianapolis.
Note, however, that those numbers are basically expenses for operation and instruction that don’t include the capital budget for Carmel’s splendid facility. That’s a big omission.
An example of the case for the other side is made here from the Education Writers Association. It, too, emphasizes the importance of targeting money on particular strategies such as incentives that boost or reward teacher effectiveness (which teachers’ unions oppose).
Despite all the reasons to be cautious about whether and how to spend more on schools, polls show that the public reinforces that precept mentioned at the outset of this article. Sure, they tell pollsters, pour more money to the schools. Who could be against that? So the politicians oblige. Public support drops off fast, however, when pollsters tell them how much is being spent and how much their taxes would increase.
Where and how, precisely, is more spending wasted?
That’s what should be debated, but a part of the answer in Illinois is that too much money goes to pensions and administrative bloat. We’ve laid that out in great detail in two key reports: Administrators over kids: Seven ways Illinois’ education bureaucracy siphons money from classrooms and more recently in Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system.
However, those explanations are not exhaustive. Other ways that money may be spent without improving outcomes are surely there.
The lesson from all this is clear: Don’t expect more money to improve schools without ensuring it goes toward a specific measure that get known, proven results.
So far, the Pritzker Administration and the Illinois State Board Education won’t even admit there’s a problem. Denial is all they’ve offered. That’s particularly astonishing given the widespread recognition that K-12 education across the country has deep problems, which is reflected in those NAEP scores charted here by Chalkbeat. They show the drop beginning around 2012 to 2015, though Illinois did a little better than the nation during the pandemic. My colleagues will be publishing a separate article shortly on Pritzker and ISBE’s denials.
It should also be clear that Illinois’ school funding formula provides no answers. The funding formula is a “monstrosity of unknown proportions,” as I wrote when the bill was passed. Among its other faults is that results don’t matter. It’s a formula only for shoveling more money. The law provides no real consequence or penalty for reducing spending on items that don’t work. “Evidence based funding” isn’t about evidence of results.
That’s among the reasons we favor school choice. Parents may not know exactly how money is best spent, but they see the final results and they know that too many Illinois schools are failing. What they don’t know is how much is being spent, and how much better a school they could find with that money if given a choice.
Finally, and most importantly, none of this should be interpreted to assign blame primarily to teachers or schools. Many may argue that bad parenting and societal breakdown are the sources of the problems, which is no doubt at least partly true. That should be part of the debate.
Bring on the debate about all of this – including school choice — but start by setting aside the broad, knee-jerk presumption that more funding improves outcomes.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Related, earlier articles from Wirepoints:
- Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 Illinois schools. For reading, it’s 30 schools
- Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system
- Unwed births, illiterate children and black-on-black crime: What Chicago’s mayoral candidates ignore
- Elgin’s Tony Sanders promoted to Illinois State Superintendent, though just 2 in 10 students in his district can read at grade level.
- New CPS data: Mayor Lightfoot, Chicago Teachers Union continue to keep dozens of empty, failing schools open
- Six facts Gov. Pritzker doesn’t want you to know about Illinois’ 2022 Report Card
- Education Funding Bill is a Monstrosity of Unknown Proportions
Charts Below are from the NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress
Minorities and the poor who’ve supported the progressive equity agenda should say, “We’ve been had.” Progressives should say, “We’ve failed” and, most importantly, the rest of us should say, “Enough of this.”
Ted joined Jeff Daly to talk about the cottage industry of school officials, unions, lawyers, construction firms and more that work together to pass multi-million tax and bond school district referendums, why the spending on unreliable, expensive EV buses might be headed to your school district, why the EV push is an example of why governments are terrible at picking winners and losers, and more.
Mark joined The Shaun Thompson Show to talk about the demands of the CTU for its next contract with Chicago, how the education system is manipulated to avoid accountability, why CPS needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, the growing property tax burden across Cook County because of Chicago’s “doom loop,” Chicago’s attempts to find new tax revenue, and more.
The CTU has parlayed its power into control of the mayor’s office and now it’s supercharging the vitriol. It’s threatening to plow through everything – including financial reality – to get what it wants when its current teachers contract expires in June.
“It’s gonna get a little hot in this city in the next few months” over contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union, says its president. Looks that way.
SOLUTION: RACs. Recovery Audit Contractors, such as invade doctors’ offices and summarily declare doctor filed ‘false claims’. It would cost doc 6-figure$ legal and accounting to appeal, so 5-figure settlement$ are reached. RACs get a contingency fee when they find ‘false claims’, so they are only incentivized to find ‘false claims’, not honest billings. RACs for schools and public employees could discover AND recover fraudulent takings of taxpayer funds, such as Jenny Thornley, fraudulent claims for PPP and unemployment by public employees as reported in this website, missing school equipment and contractor payments in violations of financial conflicts ethics rules… Read more »
RAC coupled with clawbacks. That would help tremendously in accountability. School Boards should hold these people from the last decade accountable!
Wonder how all the retired teachers live in luxury condos and drive new cars in Punta Gorda, fl.???
Illinois talks a lot about teachers’ demands, but meanwhile the infrastructure of medical care provision is evaporating. Startling differences between Illinois medical professionals and public educational professionals: 1. Chicago Public education (teachers/school admin) professionals earn about double medical professionals’ (nurses/docs) total compensation package value per hour worked. 2. When medical professionals commit (alleged) malpractice, they are pursued by alleged victims for enormously high civil damages (every penny the medical professional owns). When public education professionals commit (alleged) malpractice in that their 12-year monopoly/monopsony-protected clients cannot read or write or perform simple math functions, they are….rewarded with higher wages, more time… Read more »
The best job is a Firman, easy money and a young huge overly generous pension. If the are not a lazy one, they can work on the side and double their income. As the say it is the Best Second job anyone can get. So, suck it us Susan and pay, pay, and more pay. If you do not like it the only way out is to get out, hundreds of thousands are already ahead of you.
For God’s sake, proofread your messages, knucklehead. I implore you.
Highest cost per student = worse results.
If you want to be educated, you do not go to the CPS.
Just shut up and pay a huge tax bill for nonperformance.
Teachers should be paid by results, maybe 2 students out tens of thousands will be a grade level.
More spending is obviously not helping the situation when one looks at the reality of so many kids being functionally illiterate. It only helps the teachers and administration of the CPS to take home fat checks.
A Democrats solution is to always tax and spend more on their pet causes. Much like giving more whiskey to an alcoholic, don’t expect this spending to have a positive benefit for the students.
Take all the initiatives the defund the police crowd want law enforcement dollars to go to – housing, health care, mental health, restorative justice, jobs programs, public transit – and apply that same reasoning to education funding. I mean, if kids won’t learn because life sucks at home, apply a chunk of those dollars towards what they keep telling us are the root causes. They didn’t want a traditional education the first time around, no point of throwing good money after bad..
Spot on Mark. Nuns accomplished more with almost nothing back in my day. More money to the schools just allows teachers to retire by their mid 50s. It really not for the children.
Sister Vianni in my 3d grade class, when writing on the blackboard, would swirl around and throw an eraser at us if we talked behind her back. It was a move to behold. Faster, smoother and more unexpected than any pitcher’s pick-off move in pro baseball.
Now we have teachers being beaten by students when they are not allowed to play with their Nintendo switch. Somehow I think Sister Vianni would be put in the hospital under todays students.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/florida-student-beats-teacher-for-taking-nintendo-switch/
… and why are they allowed to play with a Nintendo switch during class time ?
Because school systems today are ruled in a state of chaos.
Maybe because they can’t read the student handbook, or anything else.
Now we have teachers being beaten by students when they are not allowed to play with their Nintendo switch. Somehow I think Sister Vianni would be put in the hospital under todays students.
I provided the link but of course my posts consistently get blocked. Maybe I should start posting about making 80 an hour and then I will get through.
I just found those in the spam folder. Don’t know why they went there. The spam software seems to have it in for you, but we will always fix it when we see it happen.
Mark, I recognize that it’s not done on purpose. I realize that we don’t see eye to eye on some issues but you have always released my comments when brought to your attention. My opinions and/or statements of facts don’t typically meet the requirements of most echo chambers out there. When I’ve tried to point out the fallacies of the left on Cap Fax, my posts have been deleted or never posted. Even posted a concurring opinion just to see what would happen and they would then let those comments go through. It’s unfortunate because I believe our echo chamber… Read more »
Rich Miller lets comments go up calling me a racist and saying all kinds of things then blocks my answer. If yours get spammed out here feel free to email admin@wirepoints.org and somebody will get on it as soon as we can.
OK, now my turn to question. I posted a response to PPF that for some reason said “waiting approval” and did not post?
I heard about that incident this morning. Reports of violent students in recent years are shocking and disgusting. A few days ago there was a story about a 14 yr old girl viciously beaten in a school hallway. She had been harassed and bullied on a regular basis, committed suicide a few days after the beating, which was filmed and distributed for the enjoyment of those who couldn’t attend. The school had done nothing about the previous reports of bullying. I’m guessing that beating a teacher for taking away his video game was not this student’s first exhibition of behavioral… Read more »
No I don’t. This was a student in Florida with special needs. This would be the equivalent of me blaming it on DeSantis “don’t say gay” law. Not sure if the school mainstreams their students or if this was a special school. Either way, teachers have a dangerous jobs in some of these schools. This video is obviously horrific but these kinds of things happen all the time in our schools. I certainly wouldn’t want to work in this type of environment. The other problem is the response once this happens. If you watch the video, no one jumps in… Read more »
My grandson is in 2nd grade in an upper-middle western suburb. I recently learned that one child in his class has been intimidating both the teacher and the other students, to the point where the kids were instructed to hide under their desks during a rampage. The parents only learned of the problem when the kids told them. Predictably, this child escalated his bad behavior. He approached several kids in line and asked if they wanted a hug. Then he grabbed them by the neck. My grandson was grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground. In 2nd grade.… Read more »
A teacher was intimidated by a 2nd grader? Right. If accurate, immediate termination should be recommended, and a negative review placed in his records. When leaders are not held accountable for their actions, bad results happen, like the coach from the Blackhawks issue.
Just to be clear, I did not mean to imply that CTU caused this problem. I was referring to progressive ideas as the problem. CTU certainly has been very vocal in support of those ideas.
Ah, those were the days. I thought it must be a requirement to have a pitching arm like Sandy Koufax before taking final vows. And it didn’t hurt that nuns had eyes in the back of their heads.
Some of the highest spending per student and the countries worse results. Where is all the money going to?
Pensions, Pensions, and more Pensions.
Not to worry it will only get worse and last your lifetime.
The Carmel IN HS video would be particularly stunning for all Chicago CITY CPS parents to see the kind if facilities could be afforded to ALL if the $ weren’t going elsewhere.
The pablum put forth by the Sun-Times as informed thought shows that Pritzker, Democrats, and Teachers Unions will not be held accountable. The Sun-Times ignores basic stewardship, otherwise they would of at least said to stop the union featherbedding at all the schools that hardly have any students.
New York state spends $25,519 per pupil, by far tops in the country and nearly 50% more per pupil than Illinois. I’d wager if you applied NY funding to IL, they would jump for joy…briefly. Because NY Gov Hochul is proposing even more funding. The fact is there’s never enough education funding. There is no end game. The schools want more money to spend on the same product. It’s like continuously pumping money into maintaining an outdated and cumbersome mainframe system. If the answer is truly more funding, it’s needs to be spent differently and outside the institutional education sector.… Read more »
When teachers can readily choose to ‘teach’ in many school districts throughout the sate, why in the hell would they choose to teach within the city boundaries, where the preponderance of children come from broken, single parent and abusive homes? Why would qualified educators opt to deal with the crime, the violence and the inherent danger just by parking your car in the same neighborhood ? Is it any wonder that qualified teachers choose civilized students, concerned parents and safety over their passion to teach .. those who can’t be taught. ?
Completely agree. Everyone here complains that CTU members are overpaid but for the working conditions they put up with it’s not enough. Even with more money I’m not sure you would be able to entice the best and brightest teachers. Although less money certainly wouldn’t help the situation. The simple fact is these students come from difficult homes and situations and school is just not their top priority. Their families worry about losing a job, being homeless, going hungry, getting deported, domestic violence and abuse, relatives in jail etc…. Hard to teach a group with so much going on in… Read more »
Amen, PPF. I sure hope I was clear enough on that point in the second to last paragraph.
The pathologies of the lower classes present incredible barriers to teachers. Sister Vianni could have had 40 kids in a class but she was helped by 80 adult parents at home. Also, State Mandated programs for things like equity steal class time from subject content. Lastly, subject content needs a thorough review. Of course, this will never happen at CPS.
Blake