Texas jumped two spots - improving from 41st in 2004 to 39th in 2005 - in a ranking of state public education, but it still lags behind much of the country, according to a report released last week by a group of lawmakers.
The report, issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council, factors eighth-graders' scores from the National Assessment of Education Progress test, along with the state's SAT and ACT scores. The report also factored in total state education spending.
Nationwide, the report showed that student achievement is not improving, despite increases in school funding, said Lori Drummer, education task force director for the council.
Of the 10 states that have increased their expenditures per student by 100 percent or more, only two of those states, New Hampshire and Vermont, ranked in the top 10 for academic achievement, according to the report. Drummer said this supports the growing argument that simply spending more money on education does not necessarily increase student performance. Of the top 10 states that reduced their pupil-to-teacher ratios, Vermont was the only state among them to rank in the academic achievement top 10, according to the report.
A misconception is that if schools had more money, they would perform better, Drummer said.
Several important indicators are missing in the ranking's calculation, said Norma Cantu, UT education professor. The report leaves out important factors such as drop-out rates and the number of college-bound graduates, which are good indicators of school performance, she said.
"There is a relation between public expenditures and education." Cantu said. "If you remove the money, you remove the quality."
In Texas, public schools have three goals: to prepare students for college, the workforce and participation in a democratic society, Cantu added.
"Those goals cannot be accomplished with cheap forms of education." Cantu said.
Harley Eckhart, associate executive director for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, said that more money for schools is a key to success.
"We'd like to see the state put in more money, because we have a lot of high-need students," Eckhart said. Local districts are not allowed to generate more money from taxes because of rules and regulations, and state funding continues to drop, said Eckhart.
"It's disappointing," Eckhart said. "We'd like to be No. 1. Hopefully the Legislature will step up to the plate."
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