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I wish that Baker had weeded into whether the equity was a problem of the way states chose to invest their funding or drastic differences in local wealth.

For instance, a state may have a very progressive funding mechanism but be unable to outspend those top spending, non-poverty districts that raise ridiculous sums through high local property values.

The end result will be total per pupils which are not seen as progressive despite aggressively progressive state policy.

Now, on some level, what matters is if you reach the end goal of directing more resources toward students in poverty. But Baker had the opportunity to have a more scathing indictment of how smaller and more isolated districts, particularly in the Northeast, that are funded primarily through property tax are really squashing our goals of equitable funding.

Surprised to see Ohio getting fairly high marks...Gov Strickland is going to lose his relection bid in large part because people believe he failed to alleviate inequality in school funding.

Also a little surprised to see Utah get an A for their progressive funding system...but giving EVERY district no money is fair I guess :)

I will never understand why all states do not put education first. I think there is some great problem where when our future is not attended to as it should be. Please keep us informed.

With increasing frequency, there has been an underlying premise in the rhetoric of some education reformers that "money doesn't matter" in America's educational system and that enormous inequities in funding among our nation's schools can simply be overcome by more testing and accountability, merit pay, charter schools, or a variety of other school reform measures.

However, a new report by the Texas Equity Center entitled "Money Does Matter!: Investing in Texas Children and Our Future" systematically dispels that myth and highlights the many ways education inequity undermines our nation's poorest school systems while putting millions of our nation's children at a significant disadvantage. In fact, the report shows that precisely because of the imposition of additional standards and requirements, as well as changing demographics, schools across Texas and across this nation very much deserve and need additional funding and support if we hope to really ensure all of our nation's children achieve to their fullest potential.

As the Texas Equity Center concludes, "This collaborative project seeks to put an end to the question of whether money matters in providing a high-quality education to all children."

The Texas Equity Center's report: “Money Does Matter: Investing in Texas Children and Our Future” is at http://bit.ly/c8xOoJ

JB - Thanks for the input. I too wish that the report had gone a bit deeper into the issue of what is actually the "goal," so to speak--be it in terms of per pupil spending, the percentage states should spend on education, etc. And it was perhaps a chance to talk in greater depth about the mechanisms of funding. But I also agree that the end goal is directing more resources toward students in poverty, and at least this is a start to what will hopefully be a bigger conversation.

Matt - I guess it's all relative! I don't know much about the individual states, but assuming this is accurate, think about what that means for the states that scored lower...

Elizabeth - I hear you!

mcadoo11 - I too am concerned about this "money doesn't matter" mentality. Certainly, money ALONE doesn't matter--it has to be spent wisely. But it really does matter.

And thanks for the link - the report does a nice job of in illustrating the often-interrelated challenges we face with our current educational system.