More School Spending Not Equal to More Achievement

In these stimulus spending economic times, readers who have followed the work of Dr. Eric Hanushek, the noted expert on education finance, will appreciate his latest book, co-written with Alfred Lindseth. Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses blows away the myths of increased school spending, including across-the-board increases and lowering class-size.  Hanushek has long argued that spending more money is not the key to improved student achievement. 

While the book examines American school systems, the principles of education funding reforms are certainly applicable to our Canadian school systems.  The rush to get on the class-size cap bandwagon in Ontario is a case in point.  Why do our educrats and politicians fail to learn from the mistakes of their U.S. counterparts time and again?

What does work?--performance-based funding, accountability, merit pay, and school choice.

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