Test results show no academic improvement after Oklahoma’s school spending spree

Education

Ray Carter | January 29, 2025

Test results show no academic improvement after Oklahoma’s school spending spree

Ray Carter

Funding for Oklahoma public schools has skyrocketed in recent years. But when it comes to improving academic outcomes, a new national test indicates taxpayers’ return on investment is disappointing.

According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests administered in Oklahoma and nationwide in 2024, Oklahoma fourth- and eighth-grade students’ achievement in reading and math remains lower than it was before the COVID pandemic.

And Oklahoma’s fourth-grade reading score is not only lower than the pre-pandemic norm but also continues to decline.

A release by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University noted that most states have generated little or no return on investment (ROI) when it comes to public-school spending increases.

“The 10-year trends for each state suggest a reset is needed in many to ensure that investments are delivering more for students,” the Edunomics release stated.

As an example, Edunomics researchers noted that in Washington state “per-pupil spending has essentially doubled in the last decade (far outpacing inflation); meanwhile, 8th-grade math scores are in free fall.”

Edunomics Lab analyzed ROI data from 2013 to 2024, tracking NAEP 4th-grade reading and 8th-grade math scores alongside per-pupil spending.

Researchers found Oklahoma’s per-pupil spending increased 47 percent during that decade, but NAEP scores in both reading and math are far lower today than in 2013. Oklahoma’s spending increase far outpaced inflation during that time.

While Oklahoma’s math scores have stabilized in recent years, they have done so at a lower level than the pre-pandemic norm. And the trend is even worse for reading.

In Oklahoma, Edunomics noted, “Reading 4th-grade scores fell through the decade and continue to decline even as spending increased.”

Researchers found Oklahoma’s per-pupil spending has increased 47 percent since 2013, but NAEP scores in both reading and math are far lower today than in 2013.

The only exception to that trend occurred in 2015, when reading scores surged and Oklahoma’s NAEP score for 4th-grade reading was above the national average. At that point, Oklahoma law mandated that students be reading on at least a second-grade level before being promoted to the fourth grade.

However, lawmakers effectively gutted that law and have allowed social promotion since then. Former State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister was a critic of the reading law and championed its negation during her tenure, during which Oklahoma’s academic outcomes cratered.

Notably, the state of Mississippi was among the states showing improvement in reading scores in recent years, according to NAEP testing. That state has adopted a reading law similar to the one Oklahoma had in place prior to 2015.

Fourth-grade NAEP reading scores in Mississippi are substantially higher today than in 2013. While Mississippi’s scores dipped slightly during the pandemic, they have now rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, unlike the trend in many states.

Oklahoma lawmakers have attempted to address the state’s reading problem, voting last year to outlaw “three cueing” instruction that has been shown to harm reading comprehension, and mandating that teachers be trained in phonetic instruction and other elements of the “science of reading” that research has proven succeeds.

However, some provisions of that law will not take full effect until the 2025-2026 school year.

Results Defy Promises Made by Spending Advocates 

The fact that academic outcomes in Oklahoma are lower today than in recent years, despite dramatic spending increases, defies the promises made by advocates of spending surges.

Time and again, activists argued that Oklahoma’s academic outcomes will improve if public school funding is increased. But that has not proven true.

Citing the National Center for Education Statistics in 2018, officials with the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, a lobbyist organization, claimed Oklahoma had a “funding gap” of $1.1 billion with bordering states at that time.

In the accompanying press release, Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, declared, “A bold investment in education is key to better preparing our children for the future, catalyzing economic development, and creating a more prosperous future for our state.”

In the release, Hime also decried the fact that much “time and energy” had been “needlessly devoted to criticizing local education spending instead of focusing on the benefits of properly investing in education.”

Since that time, the $1.1 billion that OSSBA claimed was needed to properly fund Oklahoma schools has been met and exceeded three times over.

Despite having largely achieved the “fully funded” goals of spending advocates, Oklahoma’s academic outcomes continue to decline in a trend that preceded COVID.

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, an increase of $3.3 billion compared to the $6,300,400,107 reported by schools during the 2017-2018 school year.

On a per-pupil basis, Oklahoma public-school revenue surged 51 percent from the 2017-2018 school year to the 2023-2024 school year, reaching $13,736 per pupil, a sum that significantly exceeds the average private-school tuition rate in Oklahoma according to recent surveys.

Similarly, on March 31, 2021, state Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, went even further than the OSSBA’s lobbyists and argued Oklahoma public schools required another $2.1 billion to be fully funded. But even that increase has been largely achieved. Total revenue in Oklahoma public schools, excluding savings, was $7,661,836,916 in the 2020-2021 school year. Current revenue exceeds that total by $1.9 billion.

Despite having largely achieved the “fully funded” goals of spending advocates, Oklahoma’s academic outcomes continue to decline in a trend that preceded COVID.

The gap between the national average NAEP score for 4th-grade students on the reading test and the Oklahoma average was the second largest recorded in the history of the test, which was first administered in Oklahoma in 1998.

The only gap larger than the 2024 results was generated on the 2022 version of the NAEP test, and the gap narrowed slightly in 2024 thanks to the national average declining by two points and not because Oklahoma’s performance improved. In fact, Oklahoma’s average dropped another point.

NAEP tests show that only 23 percent of Oklahoma 4th-grade students scored at or above proficient, compared to 33 percent in 2015.

Ray Carter Director, Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter

Director, Center for Independent Journalism

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