Cooper Conway
You might have heard it before: "America's education system is underfunded." That sounds like something we can all agree with, particularly since our education system is so lackluster. But, the thing is, it’s not actually true. America's per-pupil spending surpasses all other countries. Yet despite this generous funding, American students continue to underperform. The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings found America's students test well below the leading countries, ranking 37 in mathematics, 18 in science and 13 in reading.
How do we rank so poorly if we’re spending the most per pupil, you might ask? Well, we’re clearly pouring money into a broken and outdated education funding process. Luckily for us, however, in 2021 state legislators in Missouri are making the right choice to address this through legislation creating Education Savings Accounts (ESA).