Reading, 'Riting, and Spending

 

The NY Sun editorial is exactly right -- more spending is not THE key ingredient to success, but it is probably one of many important ingredients.

Per pupil spending in the city has doubled over the past decade and for much of that time, scores haven't changed discernably. The schools have only started improving as Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have taken the reins and introduced new curricula and accountability for teachers and principals, as well as encouraging the development of public charter schools. Those innovations have been possible without markedly increased spending.

Ms. Weingarten posits that "school spending is as much about how you spend it as it is about how much you spend." We couldn't agree more; if only Judge DeGrasse grasped this point. In any event, the city schools have fallen short, thanks, in many cases, to union-negotiated work rules that make it difficult to fire incompetent teachers or administrators.

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http://www.nysun.com/article/41046

Reading, 'Riting, and Spending

New York Sun Staff Editorial
October 6, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/41046

Debate over the role of money in education is igniting anew as the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit over school funding heads to the state's highest court yet again on Tuesday, and the good news is that it's still not too late to re-examine the premise that more spending equals a better education. The CFE lawsuit is founded on the idea that the equation holds and that idea has absorbed the courts for so long that students who were kindergartners when the case began are now in college if they're lucky.