Since 2018, total revenue per student in Oklahoma’s public school system has surged by 51 percent, but academic outcomes have declined.

So how should policymakers improve academic performance? According to at least one lobbyist organization, the solution is to keep doing the same thing schools are doing today but spend more in the process.

“The best way to support Oklahoma students is to continue the progress of recent years by continuing to invest in public school students,” declared the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, a lobbyist group, in a recent legislative alert opposing a bill that would require that a larger share of school funding go to instruction.

The argument that spending increases alone, without adopting any significant reforms, will improve school outcomes is often made nationwide. Yet that theory has continually failed when put into practice.

Patrick J. Wolf, a professor at the University of Arkansas’ Department of Education Reform, notes that “there is a wealth of evidence that increased funding of K-12 education only improves student outcomes if it is well spent.”

In many instances, funding increases don’t go to instructional uses and therefore have little positive impact on students’ academic results.

“Much of the funding increases recently haven’t made it into the classroom,” Wolf said. “Instead, school funding increases before, during, and after COVID mainly have been spent on hiring more administrative staff in schools and paying for consulting, fancier facilities, and professional development, none of which are linked to improved student outcomes. In sum, increased K-12 spending only improves outcomes if it is spent on the things that matter. Additional funding tends not to be spent on things that matter. Therefore, additional funding tends not to improve student outcomes.”

According to financial data reported by schools to the state’s Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS), Oklahoma public schools received $9,600,703,488 in new revenue in the 2023-2024 school year. Since student enrollment was 698,923 in the 2023-2024 school year, that comes out to an average of $13,736 per student.

That’s a 51 percent increase in per-pupil revenue since the 2017-2018 school year when Oklahoma public schools reported having $6,300,400,107 in new revenue and statewide enrollment of 694,816 for an average of $9,067 per student.

Outcomes Declined as Revenue Increased

Contrary to predictions, outcomes have steadily declined as revenue has increased in Oklahoma schools.

In 2018, Oklahoma high-school graduates had an average ACT composite score of 19.3 (with a 36 representing a perfect score). By 2024, Oklahoma high-school graduates had an average ACT composite score of only 17.6.

Outcomes in elementary grades have also declined dramatically.

According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests administered in Oklahoma and nationwide in 2024, Oklahoma fourth-and-eighth grade student achievement in reading and math remains lower than it was prior to the COVID pandemic, and the results in Oklahoma public schools were among the nation’s worst.

Researchers say 10 points on a state’s NAEP scale score roughly equates to a year of learning. Oklahoma’s fourth-grade reading NAEP score has declined nine points since 2019, and Oklahoma’s score on fourth-grade reading was lower than the average in all but three states.

Outcomes from the nation’s highest-spending state also refute the dogma that spending alone determines academic achievement.

The state of New York is projected to spend $36,293 per student in the 2024-25 school year. Yet a recent report by the Citizens’ Budget Commission, “Highest Costs, Middling Marks,” found that academic outcomes in New York fall far below its top ranking for spending.

“Elementary and secondary school spending per student in New York State is the highest in the nation and nearly double the national average,” the report stated. “Yet, student performance in New York is middle-of-the-pack nationally and lower than neighboring states that spend less.”

In 2024, Oklahoma fourth-grade students achieved a scale score of 233 on the NAEP math test. New York students scored only one point higher–234–despite the massive difference in per-pupil funding.

New York’s fourth-grade students did better on the NAEP reading test but were still in the bottom half of states.

“More money has not been the cure-all, and it would be illogical to think the next $1 billion will solve what the previous $1 billion did not,” the Citizens’ Budget Commission report stated.

Wolf noted that proponents of increased spending often point to two studies to bolster their argument that spending alone can change results. But Wolf noted that those studies “have serious flaws.”

He said one study was limited to instances in which a court ordered increased school spending. However, Wolf noted that in many of those cases, states also implemented other reforms along with the increased spending, and the study did not “determine if any subsequent test score gains are due to more spending or those other reforms.”

The second study purporting to show a link between outcomes and spending was a meta-analysis of about 30 previous studies. Wolf said the criteria determining what studies were included and which were excluded from the meta-analysis appear to have shifted during the review process.

“Basic research diagnostics suggest that results are missing from their review, especially if the studies show that increased spending doesn’t affect achievement or negatively affects it,” Wolf said. “So, these findings that ‘money matters in K-12 education’ that have been lauded by many need to be taken with a grain of salt.”

Even if taken at face value, those studies have indicated that a 10-percent increase in school funding every year for 12 years will increase a student’s years of education by only a quarter year, which Wolf noted is “a tiny gain for a huge investment.”

Officials with the Citizens’ Budget Commission have reached a similar conclusion regarding New York’s education challenges.

“Despite being the highest spending state for well over a decade, New York’s schools have consistently delivered academic outcomes comparable to the national average and wide disparities between high- and low-performing students,” the Citizens’ Budget Commission report stated. “Continuing to shovel more and more money every year to school districts without fundamentally questioning this status quo behavior will not solve this problem.”