On Top of the News
How the Education Spendthrifts Get Away With It
9/22/14 | Wall Street Journal

Behind the Headline
No Common Opinion on the Common Core
Winter 2015 | Education Next

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Peterson looks at why it is so popular for politicians to call for more spending on schools.  As Peterson notes, “as long as taxes are ignored and no mention is made of current levels of expenditure, calling for more spending is a political no-brainer.” Polls find that Americans favor higher spending on schools.

However, a 2014 Education Next poll found that support for more school spending “fell to 44% from 60% when respondents were given information on current amounts of spending. Levels fell further to only 26% favoring more spending among the group asked if they favored tax increases to fund higher spending.”

An essay summarizing the findings of this year’s Education Next poll is available here. Full survey results can be found here. Survey results from previous years can be found here.

-Education Next