‘Bang for the buck’ report shows poverty is no excuse for low school efficiency

I wrote yesterday about a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP), which does a ‘bang for the buck’ comparison of test score proficiency versus per pupil spending in Kentucky school districts. This is similar to a discussion we started in Kentucky years ago with our own “Bang for the Buck” report.

Today, let’s look at some interesting evidence that poverty isn’t an excuse for low educational efficiency in schools. The CAP’s web site has a neat mapping tool which I used to assemble this table (click on it to enlarge, if necessary).


In this table, each district’s Return on Investment (ROI) is color-coded for high or low ‘bang for the buck.’ I don’t show all districts here, but I do select from those with high percentages of low income students to show that some get good test scores (shown by a higher State Achievement Index) with relatively low amounts of funding.

For example, Harlan Independent Schools has one of the lowest per pupil funding rates in the table, but its dark green ROI code shows Harlan has one of the very best ROIs in Kentucky.

On the other end of the scale, note that both the small Berea Independent Schools and the enormous Jefferson County School District have some of the very highest per pupil funding levels, but some of the lowest Achievement Indexes and therefore some of the worst ROIs, as well. Of note, both of these low ROI districts also have the lowest poverty rates in the table.

So, poverty is no excuse. Let’s get over that in places like Berea and Jefferson County.