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• The Need
• Education Quick Facts
• Education Myths

Education Myths

“Schools perform poorly because they need more money.”

Facts:

• U.S. education spending per pupil has grown steadily for the last 50 years from $1,214 to $8,745 in 2004 (inflation-adjusted dollars)
• Academic performance during this period of time has remained flat
• In Denver, today’s per pupil spending is actually above $10,000.

“School choice will bankrupt public schools and leave them with all the ‘problem kids’.”

Facts:

• Research consistently finds that public school academic performance improves in response to school choice competition (i.e. private scholarship programs like ACE, tax credits and vouchers)
• Milwaukee’s public schools have made significant academic gains since the inception of voucher
• Per pupil spending at public schools in Milwaukee has actually risen since vouchers began

“Public schools would not struggle if they reduced the size of classes.”

Facts:

• Research suggests there are modest benefits in smaller classes
• California spent $1 billion in 1996 to reduce elementary class sizes. The follow up study concluded that students who attended larger classes improved at about the same rate.

“Social problems cause students to fail; schools are helpless to prevent it.”

Fact:

• Research shows that test scores for students’ from low-income families have improved significantly when provided educational choice.

“Private schools are more racially segregated than public schools.”

Facts:

• The research on school segregation demonstrates that on average, private schools are actually more racially integrated than public schools
• The bulk of the research finds that parental choice in education also contributes to integration.

“Teachers are badly underpaid.”

Facts:

• Recent U.S. Labor Department data confirms that in 2002 teachers made $30.75 per hour, or $60,000 annually when working a full year. Teachers generally work only about nine months per year
• The entire category of “professional specialty” workers made $29.34 per hour. This included architects, economists, civil engineers, physicists, chemists, astronomers, etc.
• Even nuclear engineers, at $36.16 per hour, didn’t make much more than teachers.

Pdf version of Education Myths