Public Schools’ Advocate Reports Added Spending Didn’t Help, Considers More

Amber Arellano, executive director of Education Trust-Midwest, recently wrote an op-ed in The Detroit News about a report her group put out on how the state’s public schools have performed on standardized tests.

Arellano wrote: “Michigan’s third-graders show the greatest decline in third-grade reading compared to peers in other states, but these learning declines are about triple that of the next closest state for this measure, despite the fact that state leaders have invested nearly $80 million in recent years to raise third-grade reading levels.”

Two paragraphs later Arellano mentions increased funding as a possible solution to the problem.

ForTheRecord says: If spending $80 million didn’t make a difference, maybe more money isn’t the answer.