States spent more, kids learned less: Will choice revive education?

Spending more on schools -- 37 percent more above inflation over 20 years -- led to a 1 percent gain in achievement. Adopting academic standards and accountability exams had little effect. Education reformers "brought a technocratic knife to a political gunfight," writes Matthew Ladner of the Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy.

But the future could be brighter, he predicts. New choice programs will make it possible for educators to create new schools and services and families to choose what meets their children's needs.

All 50 states increased inflation-adjusted per pupil funding, starting in 1999 and 2000, Ladner writes. Spending increases did not correlate with student achievement. Vermont doubled spending, and saw a 1.4 percent decline in NAEP scores. Idaho spent only 5 percent more and saw a 1 percent gain, equal to the national average.

Mississippi, which raised spending by a third, made the biggest gains (5 percent) thanks to a comprehensive state initiative to improve reading instruction. Hawaii, which raised spending by two-thirds, gained 4.2 percent. But Tennessee (20.6 percent more spending) and Florida (12.5 percent) did almost as well.

Test-based accountability systems were subverted by "education unions and their allies and proxies," Ladner writes. Most state "systems morphed into hollow bureaucratic compliance rituals delivering participation trophies rather than meaningful consequences."

Many states lowered the scores needed to achieve "proficiency," persuading parents their children were doing well, he writes. Accountability systems became "weapons of mass deception."

Ladner sees a new era of "education choice" rather than just "school choice." Using education savings accounts and scholarships, parents will be able to choose among education methods, using a variety of information sources to choose best-fit programs and enrichment opportunities for their children.