The persistent myth in education that money doesn't matter and that spending more won't lead to better outcomes has had a surprisingly long life given the amount of research evidence debunking it. Promoted by anti-public education and pro-charter/voucher operatives, this myth still holds sway over lawmakers who seek ways to continue underfunding public education.
Education Law Center's Money Matters report highlights key points in the research showing that money matters. Below are some excerpts:
1) New research using rigorous methods finds money does matter and identifies flaws in prior research. Recent studies using rigorous research methods find that students in states that invest more money in their public schools have higher test scores, greater educational attainment, and higher earnings. While money does not eliminate achievement gaps, it can shrink them.
2) How money is spent matters. Research has identified the importance of targeting spending on programs and initiatives that improve student achievement, including high quality early education, prepared and experienced teachers, social-emotional supports, and community schools.
Funding that is both predictable and flexible allows school districts to focus spending on the needs of the local community, rather than being dictated by the state through restricted categorical grants
3) School funding reform and school integration are intertwined. Due to historical and persistently high levels of racial and economic segregation, underfunded schools tend to be found in districts with higher segregation concentration by race and poverty, with white students clustering in higher-income school districts, and Black and Latino students clustered in higher poverty schools.
School funding reform efforts cost more in states where there are high levels of school segregation. In these states, the cost burden of school reform falls more heavily on the state because of the added costs of mitigating concentrated poverty and the reduced ability of poor communities to contribute substantial local funds.
Another Ed. Law Center report titled Investing Additional Resources in Schools Serving Low-Income Students highlights the educational and career benefits of investing in low-income school districts.
In one of the most robust research studies available, increases in funding to low-income districts not only resulted in improved academic outcomes, but also increases in wages, family income, and reductions in the annual incidence of adult poverty.
All of these positive outcomes are possible if our state legislators heeded their constitutional obligation to provide for a free, quality education to our state's students.
North Carolina now ranks #49 out of 50 in educational funding effort. Only Arizona ranks lower. But what's as bad as our terrible ranking is how far below the national average our current spending effort is and how sharply it has dropped since 2010. In 2010, North Carolina had almost reached the national average.
