Census data reveal K-12 spending in NM continues to grow, results stagnant

06.19.2017

As RGF research director Dowd Muska discussed last week, the case for New Mexico spending more money, especially at the behest of the judiciary (as a lawsuit would have happen) is nearly non-existent.

Since then, we have run across some fascinating analysis of state-by-state K-12 spending by the education site 74 Million. The most relevant chart has been posted below:

Dashboard 1

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A few salient points:

  1. Between 2013 and 2015, New Mexico’s K-12 education spending per-pupil grew by 8.21 percent. That’s good for 11th-fastest among states;
  2. In the NAEP test of 4th grade reading, New Mexico’s point score rose during that time frame by 1.48 points, but 8th grade math scores dropped by 1.864 points;
  3. While per-pupil spending grew in nearly every state between 2013 and 2015, it is nearly impossible to uncover any correlation (let alone causation) between increasing K-12 spending and improved results on the NAEP.