The instinct to invest in children's education is admirable, and I share it. But the data overwhelmingly shows that American schools aren't suffering from a funding problem — they're suffering from an effectiveness problem.

The U.S. spends over $15,000 per pupil in public K-12 education — among the highest in the world, according to the OECD. Only Luxembourg and a few other small nations spend more. Inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending has roughly tripled since 1970, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

What have we gotten for this massive increase? Test scores have been flat. The Nation's Report Card (NAEP) shows that reading and math scores for 17-year-olds are essentially unchanged since the early 1970s. The most recent NAEP results (2022) showed the largest decline in reading in 30 years and the first-ever decline in math.

The disconnect between spending and outcomes is stark at the district level. Washington D.C. public schools spend approximately $31,000 per student — the highest in the nation — yet rank among the lowest in achievement. Baltimore City spends over $21,000 per student with similarly poor outcomes. Meanwhile, Catholic schools in the same cities spend a fraction as much and produce substantially better results, particularly for low-income and minority students.

Where does the money go? The Education Department's own data shows that administrative costs and non-instructional spending have grown far faster than classroom spending. Between 1960 and 2020, the number of students grew about 8% while the number of non-teaching staff grew over 700%.

The real solutions are structural: school choice and competition to incentivize improvement, merit-based teacher compensation, reducing administrative bloat, and empowering parents. Countries that outperform us, like Poland and Estonia, spend far less per pupil but give families more educational choices.