"We have an 80 percent graduation rate in high school after spending more per student than any country in the world other than Liechtenstein, I think, or Luxembourg and a couple other small countries."
— Jeb Bush on Friday, April 17th, 2015 in a speech in New Hampshire
The most recent OECD study -- from 2014 using 2011 data -- shows that the United States spends $12,731 per student on secondary education. Four countries -- Austria, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland -- spend more. Those same countries are also the only ones that spend more than the United States per student on primary schools.
(Bush mentioned Liechtenstein, a tiny country located between Austria and Switzerland, but that wasn’t included on the OECD list.)
politifact.com
"...Over 30 years, federal spending on education has grown by 375 percent, but test scores remain flat."
— Dave Brat on Monday, February 16th, 2015 in a Facebook post.
McCluskey cited White House figures showing federal outlays for elementary, secondary and vocational education were $2.9 billion in 1970 and rose to $73.3 billion in 2010. When adjusted for inflation, that comes to about a 375 percent increase.
politifact.com
(But that's 40 years rather than the 30 McCluskey claimed. |
