So, not to get all wonky on you (I know how you all love doing math), but here’s another number to consider — $2.9 billion. That’s how much more tax money it would take to raise the state from its current last place in per pupil expenditures for education to the national average.
Are you up to it?
That won’t get you to the top of the list, mind you. Doing so would take much more. We’re talking average, here. Put another way, becoming average would cost you 70 percent more than you’re currently paying.
These figures are from the Utah Foundation’s latest report on education revenue and spending, titled, “Getting by with less.”
Of course the $2.9 billion question is, what would you get for that money?
And that one is closely followed by the next $2.9 billion question, which is, what would you lose? You can’t take that kind of money out of the local economy without feeling it somewhere, and perhaps everywhere.
Well, relax. No one is asking you for that much, least of all me. I subscribe to the theory promoted by researcher Eric Hanushek, referenced in the report, that more money alone won’t necessarily improve education. We have to know what we’re getting.
The per pupil expenditure figure never has had much relevance in a state that has more kids to teach and fewer adults to pay for it than any other.
