As the Denver Post reports:
Colorado ranks among the stingiest states in the nation in how much it spends to educate its children, according to a government report released Monday.
The report by the U.S. Census Bureau found the state ranked 40th in spending per pupil in 2007.
Colorado fared even worse in how much of its personal income goes toward public education. It spent the second-lowest amount per $1,000 of income, ahead of only Florida. [Pols emphasis]
“I think this study kind of confirms, to be perfectly honest, what we’ve known: that the underlying tax structure that supports Colorado public schools has, in some cases, not been working well,” said Dwight Jones, the state’s commissioner of education.
The Census Bureau found that Colorado spent $8,167 per pupil, 11th from the bottom nationally, during the 2006-07 school year. That is below the national average of $9,666 and almost half the amount spent by New York, the top state.
We like to imagine that it’s Mississippi, Alabama, or another stereotype Deep South state that saves Colorado every year from ranking dead-last in education spending as a percentage of income. Okay, Florida then. Close enough.
And yes, we know we’re in the middle of the Great Recession so further painful cuts to education loom, which puts even many Democrats in the position of reciting boilerplate about using “what we have” as efficiently as possible instead of leveling the truth: recession or no recession, efficiencies or no efficiencies, we’re in a nationally embarrassing predicament.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: davebarnes
IN: Holy Crap Boebert Bestie Matt Gaetz’s Ethics Report Is Bad
BY: MarsBird
IN: It’s Long Past Time to Ban Body Armor
BY: Ben Folds5
IN: Holy Crap Boebert Bestie Matt Gaetz’s Ethics Report Is Bad
BY: The realist
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: coloradosane
IN: Holy Crap Boebert Bestie Matt Gaetz’s Ethics Report Is Bad
BY: coloradosane
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: MartinMark
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: coloradosane
IN: Aurora: Still Not Overrun by Venezuelans (feat. Dave Perry)
BY: Conserv. Head Banger
IN: Monday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
so therefore and hence why should we pay any more for it?
First we need the best education system in the country, THEN we’ll start paying for it in some way.
[/sarcasm]
We have great public schools. Big spending doesn’t mean better results.
Why don’t we cut the defense budget and expect to have the same quality, capability and sustainability?
Big spending may not guarantee better results, but it is certainly correlated with better results, at least for at the low levels we are talking about. Consider the results with $0 spending. Gets better as you spend more, right?
We do rank 12th in academic achievement as a state.
So here’s the state of things here in Colorado:
And here’s what you can do about it:
http://www.greateducation.org
and perpetuates misinformation, stereotypes, and prejudice. Mississippi is 15th. Alabama is 25th. Other backwards southern states: Georgia is 6th. Arkansas is 10th. SC is 16th. The only southern state in the bottom ten (besides FL, which many southerners don’t claim as southern) is TN at 45th.
Good for Mississippi, we’ll tell our kids to put Ole Miss on their college list since they’re properly funding their education system. Doesn’t exactly give our state an excuse, though.
As far as this Colorado blog is concerned, we kicked your rebel asses at the Battle of Glorieta Pass and haven’t really paid much attention since then.
Between funding and performance, it makes more sense to focus on the items that do matter
… it borders on scary listening to those folks. Scary for the obvious lack of education, and scary because I think I hear banjos in the background….
One time I got gas and went inside to the bathroom; looking around and listening one could have thought they were reshooting “Deliverance” nearby. All these years later…
Is bubbahood a close correlation to dollars spent in public education? I honestly don’t know. But I have my suspicions.
Don’t they spend more per pupil than Colorado?
{sarcasm}
At least here when you can’t get a decent job you can go fishing.