N.M. 34th in nation for pupil spending, report says
Coalition argues in lawsuit that greater investment would increase students’ chances for success
The amount of money New Mexico invests in each of its public school students continues to lag behind the national average. According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report examining nationwide data from 2014-15, per-student spending on education in the state, at $9,752, was 14 percent below the U.S. rate that year.
But public school investments vary widely among states — from a low of $6,575 per student in Utah to a high of $21,206 in New York. While New Mexico consistently ranks at or near the bottom in the nation when it comes to student achievement measures and graduation rates, the state’s education spending falls closer to the middle of the pack.
The Census Bureau report, released last week, comes as the state is defending itself in a weekslong trial over a lawsuit seeking a surge in public school funding. The suit asserts New Mexico students, particularly English language learners, special-needs children and those who come from impoverished families, need increased support to succeed in school. But the new census report raises questions about whether funding levels are heavily affecting the state’s performance in education.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case, a coalition of parents, students and teachers, argued in court last week that investing more in teacher salaries and prekindergarten programs, and making efforts to reduce classroom size, would increase students’ chances for success.
Clive Belfield, a professor of economics at Queens College at the City University of New York, testified that such initiatives come with costs — an estimated $14,580 per student to reduce classroom size, for example. But, he said, “It’s more expensive not to do it.”
Under questioning from defense lawyers, Belfield admitted that such outcomes were likely and not definite. “I am not an expert on New Mexico’s funding formula,” he said.
A Heritage Foundation report in 2008 said that while many states increased funding for education over the years, including New Mexico, reading scores and graduation rates remained flat during that period.
The census report says New Mexico ranks 34th in the nation for its public education spending in 2014-15. The state ranked similarly a decade earlier, in fiscal year 2005, when it was 35th in the nation and spent an average of $7,586 per student.
Stephen Wheeler, a survey statistician for the U.S. Census Bureau, said most states have increased education spending over the last five years, following the recession. “From 1992 to 2008 or 2009, we have seen a pretty steady increase,” he said. “Starting in 2009, when the recession hit, we see a little bit of stagnation there. But starting in 2012 or 2013, the per-pupil spending amounts have been going back up.”
New Mexico’s education spending didn’t just stagnate in the years after the national recession began to impact state revenues — it dropped for three consecutive years. The state had seen steady growth in its per-student spending until fiscal year 2010, the first year of decreases. The downturn hit New Mexico hard, and the state had a slow recovery.
In fiscal year 2013, Wheeler said, New Mexico slightly increased its investments in student spending. And between 2013 and 2014, he said, spending surged by 8 percent, from about $9,012 to $9,734 per child. The increase between 2014 and 2015 was more modest, at just $18 per student, or about one-fifth of a percent.
Experts say it’s difficult to compare states’ investments in education. While New York spends more than twice as much per child as New Mexico, its proficiency scores and graduation rate are less than 10 percent higher than New Mexico’s. Utah, which spends a third less per child than New Mexico, has a graduation rate of 84 percent — just over the national rate of about 83 percent — compared to New Mexico’s 71 percent. And reading proficiency for students in grades three through eight in that state is about 44 percent, while just 25 percent of New Mexico students in those grade levels achieved scores showing proficiency on state standardized tests.
Still, reports issued in the past few years indicate extra funding can make a difference in the classroom.
Bruce Baker, a Rutgers University professor and authority on education finance, told
in a recent interview that “an infusion of substantial and sustained funding into a higher poverty setting can bring up outcomes in those poverty settings over time.”
It’s difficult to make a broad comparison between states because of factors such as economy and demographics, he said. Nearly 1 in 3 New Mexico children live in poverty, for example, while in Utah, the figure is closer to 12.5 percent.
“In New Mexico, you have an extreme poverty population, and there is not money to target resources in those areas,” Baker said.
Michael Hansen, a senior fellow and director of The Brown Center on Education Policy for the Brookings Institution, agreed that New Mexico’s poverty level puts it on an unfair playing field with a state like Utah. He said it is difficult to draw comparisons without conducting a deep analysis.
Utah also has a large population of college-educated adults, who may value public education more than New Mexico residents, he added.
He, like Baker, said money can make a difference in improving student outcomes.
A recent Hamilton Project report from the Brookings Institution said a 10 percent increase in targeted funding can keep students from dropping out of high school and help increase the graduation rate. A 22 percent increase for all K-12 students — an average of about $2,145 per student in New Mexico — could help bridge an achievement gap for low-income kids over time, the report said.
Even if plaintiffs in the state’s education funding case win their battle in First Judicial District Judge Sarah Singleton’s courtroom in Santa Fe, it’s unclear whether New Mexico, struggling with an ongoing funding crisis, could afford to increase its public school investments. Currently, about 44 percent of the state’s $6.2 billion budget goes toward public education.
State Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, head of the Senate Finance Committee, said if the state loses the case, there’s not much it can do.
“They are talking about recurring dollars, and we cannot guarantee any recurring dollars,” he said.
Baker said he is compiling a database of states’ economic ability to invest in public education. Looking at New Mexico’s economic makeup, he said, the state has some right to claim that more funding would be difficult to come by.
New Mexico is not the only state embroiled in an education funding battle. The Kansas Supreme Court recently ruled that the state was not funding public education at an adequate level, leading state lawmakers to revise the funding formula there and propose an increase in spending of some $165 million for next year. That bill is awaiting Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature.
Cynthia Miller of The New Mexican contributed to this report.
Contact Robert Nott at 505-986-3021 or rnott @sfnewmexican.com.