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To: LindyBill who wrote (26456)	1/26/2004 10:44:24 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793895

Seattle Schools Learn Money Doesn't Buy Grades Monday, January 26, 2004 SEATTLE — Seattle school officials are learning a valuable but surprising lesson — throwing money at schools doesn't always help kids achieve. And spending more money on some students rather than others does little more than cause trouble. Under Seattle's weighted student formula, schools with kids who are poor, not fluent in English or have special needs get more money to help them compete. Only it doesn't seem to work. "If money is the only thing we need to make better schools — to increase academic achievement for students — then we would have seen that by now," said Lynn Harsh of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based group that focuses on state budgets and tax policy, welfare reform, health-care reform, education and governance issues. "Instead we're seeing the opposite results." Supporters say Seattle's spending formula insist the extra money is necessary and say middle-and upper-income areas can find ways to make up the different. But critics argue the results prove the investment those underachieving schools need has to come from parents and dedicated faculty — not the taxpayers' pockets. Two other school boards in the country have adopted the weighted model, and about 20 more cities are thinking about following their lead. foxnews.com