Seattle Schools Community Forum: "This Bill is Better Than no Bill"

Seattle Schools Community Forum: "This Bill is Better Than no Bill":

"This Bill is Better Than no Bill"

 The Quarterly Journal of Economics put out a report in October 2015 - The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms.  They linked school spending and school finance reforms in public school spending.  (This follows a very long-term study from James Coleman at Johns Hopkins University.  Coleman's work suggested no connection between money and test scores.)  


Guess what?  District that had more money, on average, did better. And their students had higher wages as adults.  The study was not so much about WHY the money affected change but that it DID.

One issue in all this work is that not all kids are the same. Low-income kids generally test lower.  But a "helicopter drop of money," as lead researcher Kirabo Jackson calls it, can make a difference. 

From the Seattle Times article;

He and his colleagues found that a 25% increase in per-student spending over the course of a student's school-age years could eliminate the gaps in income and years of education between children from low-income families and those making at least twice the poverty line. And so far, Washington has increased state per-pupil spending by 33%.

(I would dispute that per-pupil spending number since, during the recession, funding got cut.  How much of that 33% is replacement funding and how much Seattle Schools Community Forum: "This Bill is Better Than no Bill":