Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Uuhx ` to the following for helping make the 8upyhr6sshv USrrir a huge success! (u6hy Title Sponsor Sweetest Sponsor ANONYMOUS AmeriDream Homes Sweeter Sponsors Dr. Thomas & Mrs. Terry Ciszek Mr. George & Mrs. Paula Quigley Saint Patrick Catholic Church The Yarborough Law Firm Sweet Sponsors Dr. Robert and Dr. Barbara Appel Cavin's Business Solutions Divine Property Management Dr. David R. & Mrs. Sandra R. Fisher Dr. Michael & Mrs. Ginny Kidd Good Shepherd Catholic Church & Knights of Columbus #8857 Dr. Oliver Hodge Mrs. Eva Hansen R. Eugene Nacci Ms. Charlotte Baggett Rev. John R. Kelly Mr. Rosemberg & Mrs. Ange´ lica Ortiz St. Stephen Catholic Church Team Daniel Unity Christian Church International Donors Knights of Columbus Cardinal Gibbons #2838 Nina W. Corders Ywuss4 Uuswusxvsysuw B BCswy S"`wCwsv`wCuswRsvxw xvsvvww usswxw BwA cwvXvvw Rbsw XwyywCvy bww svw&$%&CuswAxxsVsyCww" Trpvhyuhx Up & Coming Weekly 16 UCW FEBRUARY 8-14, 2012 No Dutch Treat on Education by JOHN HOOD If North Carolina were a country, our level of taxpayer funding for edu- cation would be near the top — but the performance of our public schools would be mediocre. These are among the findings of a new study by the John Locke Foundation's education analyst, Dr. Terry Stoops. He looked at spending, student-assignment policies, test scores and other data for North Carolina as well as for our chief European and Asian competitors. While many North Carolina politicians proclaim their desire for a "world- class" education system, they spend most of their time comparing North Carolina schools to those of other states. In reality, most American states are similar in their education policies. Rather than hyping the relatively small differences that exist across the country, it makes more sense to look at the wider variations across the developed world. For his new study, Stoops pulled together the most recent data from a variety of sources. On school spending, the latest international data are from 2008. North Carolina spent about $9,000 per elementary-school student that year in federal, state, local and capital funds, and about $11,000 per high-school student. Only a handful of countries spent more. The vast majority of developed countries spent less — much less. Japan, for example, spent about 20 percent less than North Carolina did on both elementary and secondary education. The Netherlands also spent about 20 percent less on elementary education, but only slightly less at the high- school level. As it happens, both Japanese and Dutch students outperform North Carolina students in math and reading skills. Other countries with lower educational costs and higher educational performance than North Carolina include Korea, Finland, Canada, Australia, Germany and France. But that was three school years ago, some North Carolina liberals might re- spond. Haven't recent cuts to school budgets changed this picture dramatically? No. For one thing, cash-strapped states across the developed world have had to clamp down on government spending. North Carolina's inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending number might well be a bit lower today than in 2008, but so would the comparable figures from most other countries. (This is the kind of error that leads liberal politicians and activists to claim that North Carolina's education spending ranks 49th in the country, a fictitious claim for which they have no evi- dence except for the assertion of a teacher union.) For another thing, to quibble over rankings from 2008 vs. 2011 is to miss the real point: The level of taxpayer funding does not determine the level of educa- tional performance. Many countries have vastly more high-performing students despite the fact that they spend vastly less tax money on their school systems. Why? There are dozens of differences across these countries, not just in educa- tional policy but also in economic and social conditions. Still, I think there are two policy factors that stand out. Some high-performing countries make extensive use of performance pay as a tool to identify and retain the best teachers. The Netherlands does, for example. North Carolina doesn't. And many high-performing countries use tools such as vouchers, tax credits and charter-like public schools to encourage innovation, parental choice and competition. Most Dutch and Belgian students attend charter or private schools, for example, as do about 45 percent of Korean and English high-school stu- dents, about 30 percent of Australian, New Zealander and French high-school students, and about 20 percent of high-school students across the developed world as a whole. In North Carolina, however, the share of students outside of district-run public schools is 13 percent. At the high school level, the figure is below 10 percent. None of this is to suggest that North Carolina schools are horrendous by inter- national standards. North Carolina really did make substantial progress in educa- tional performance during the 1980s and early 1990s, in part because of policies supported by both major parties. But North Carolina simply went from abysmal to mediocre. Since the late 1990s, progress has slowed to a crawl. The problem hasn't been a lack of resources. It's been a lack of will to challenge entrenched interests. Time for that to end. JOHN HOOD, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM