"There is no correlation between the amount of money that's spent in education in America and the results that are achieved. Absolutely none," says Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii. From left are Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, Michael Milken of the Milken Institute and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Can education be improved by throwing money at it? It depends on whom you ask.
Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii told a panel of her peers that money isn′t a magic pill for fixing the nation′s schools. Lingle pointed to data that shows spending on education has doubled since 1970 yet reading scores have remained flat in that period of time.
"There is no correlation between the amount of money that′s spent in education in America and the results that are achieved. Absolutely none," she said.
At the same time, Lingle bemoaned the fact that Hawaii's schools were forced to furlough students and teachers 17 days this past school year, and she expects the same next school year.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, while conceding that accountability and efficient use of funding are important, gave an impassioned defense of spending on education.
"I would like to respectfully disagree with Gov. Lingle. It IS about money. When you′re talking about having 17 days of furloughs because you don′t have enough money, it′s about money," he said.
Doyle said Wisconsin has held education spending level, and the state hasn′t had furloughs or layoffs. The state spends 13 percent of its budget on higher education and has more students in the university system than at any time in Wisconsin′s history.
"I often say, you can′t tell a second-grader, 'Come back next year when we don′t have a recession, and we′ll give you a good education.' And you can′t tell a kid who's worked all his or her life to earn their way their way into the university system, to tell them, 'I′m sorry, you made all the grades, you did everything expected and you've been a good kid, but we don′t have a place for you in our university system.' "
Global Conference 2013
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, philanthropist Bill Gates and Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless discuss advancing prosperity in Africa.
