EDUCATION

NEW York spends the most of any state per pupil by far at over $23,000 and nearly twice as much as the national average of around $12,000. California spends just above the national average. Meanwhile, Florida and Texas spend much less, just north of $9,000.

But the difference in outputs is actually quite small. In 2017, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that students in New York and Texas both scored around the national average in fourth and eighth grades, as did Floridians in eighth. Florida students in fourth grade scored above the national average, while California students in both grades scored

below the national average. Minority students in Florida, meanwhile, tested among the highest in the nation across the board, with black students overall scoring 240 out of 500 on a simple average of the four tests (compared to 234 nationally) and Hispanic students scoring 250 (compared to 240 nationally). In Texas, minority students also performed better than nationally (238 for blacks, 243 for Hispanics).

In New York, minority students scored just above or around the national average (236 for blacks, 237 for Hispanics), while in California they both performed below it (231 for blacks, 235 for Hispanics).

If New York workers must spend twice as much on schools, they should demand real evidence of quality. And yet, the best evidence points to the fact that their students are falling behind.