Amid major slashes to public funding, political leaders have cited assertions that money doesn’t affect student learning to sometimes justify cutting billions in education dollars. But a new report stifles the money-means-education debate, saying that money does matter, and the common political rhetoric has little basis in research.
Friday’s report by the Albert Shanker Institute, titled “Revisiting The Age-Old Question: Does Money Matter In Education?” cites empirical evidence that shows many of the ways in which schools currently spend money do improve student outcomes, and when schools have larger budgets, they’re empowered to spend more opportunistically and productively. Bruce Baker, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University, authors the report. The Shanker Institute is an independent nonprofit endowed by the American Federation of Teachers.
“In short, money matters, resources that cost money matter, and the more equitable distribution of school funding can improve outcomes,” Baker writes. “Policymakers would be well advised to rely on high-quality research to guide the critical choices they make regarding school finance.”
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