While we’re talking about public education you might want to take a gander at this report from the NEA. It has all sorts of interesting facts and figures. For example, I wasn’t aware that new school enrollments had, basically, fallen through the floor in 2006, i.e. very little change in enrollment. School spending has not, unfortunately, similarly remained the same. You’ve got to wonder about the relationship between that statistic and the healthcare spending statistics.
Now, guess which state is dead last in the state’s contribution to K-12 education? You guessed it: Illinois. Illinois has per capita state taxes right around the median (within one standard deviation—that doesn’t take into account the whopping increase in the state income tax enacted in 2011 and which expires soon) and is dead last in the state’s percentage contribution to K-12 education. Much, much lower than Mississippi or Louisiana or any of the usual suspects. Riddle me that.
