Thursday Edition: How Did School Choice Do?

While momentum for the school choice movement has been steadily gaining steam, it just suffered a bit of setback. (Reason Foundation)

The numbers: On Election Day, voters approved 7 out of 12 education-related statewide ballot measures, but all school choice measures failed, including:

• Kentucky's Amendment 2 (only 35% supported it).

• Nebraska's referendum overturning a private school scholarship program (57% supported the measure).

• Colorado’s Amendment 80, which advocates say was hurt by unclear ballot language and poor coalition support.

Education policy expert Neal McKluskey on why school choice ballot initiatives often fail:

Bubba’s Two Cents

School choice advocates struggling to see their favored programs become law, despite their popularity, mirrors the disillusionment many Americans feel when widely supported ideas meet the buzzsaw that is the U.S. political process.

In an age when many education advocates stress massive budgets as essential to public school progress, the Magnolia State is providing a counterpoint. (The American Saga)

A new study by economist Noah Spencer: Despite being the poorest state in the U.S., Mississippi improved its fourth-grade reading rank from 49th in 2013 to 29th in 2019 (NAEP) through the Literacy-Based Promotion Act.

• The LBPA featured an array of reforms and programs focused on phonics, pre-K expansion, teacher development and mandatory grade retention for struggling readers.

Efficiency: The LBPA cost a modest $15 million per year out of the state’s $7.6 billion budget.

Contrast: In the face of fierce opposition, the teachers union in Chicago, which already spends nearly double the national average per public school student, is currently demanding $1.1 billion in additional funding from the cash-strapped city government.

Big picture: The U.S. spends more than almost any other country on education.

Inflation-adjusted K-12 education costs have steadily increased nationwide.

Funding per student has increased dramatically, but it’s not being spent on teacher salaries, which (when you adjust for inflation) have plateaued for decades.

Administrative staff hiring is greatly outpacing growth of teachers and students.

Thanks partly to trillions in federal investment under President Biden, infrastructure has become a bit of a hot topic—so where do American roads and bridges stand now? (Construction Physics)

A new analysis by Institute for Progress fellow Brian Potter: Interstates are in pretty good shape, but roads, especially in urban areas, could use some work.

• 80%+ of interstate mileage is rated "good" or "very good," with only 3% rated "poor" or worse, according to the International Roughness Index, the most widely used measurement of road quality.

• Only 40% of non-interstate roads are rated "good" or better, and 20% are "poor" or worse, with urban roads generally in worse condition than rural ones.

(In the chart below, lower numbers indicate higher quality.)

Zoom in: Over 60% of roads in San Francisco and Los Angeles are poor, compared to less than 10% in Atlanta and Minneapolis.

Bridges: Since 2000, the share of U.S. bridges in “poor” condition has fallen from 15% to less than 7%.

Spending: The federal government spent $44.8 billion on infrastructure in 2023 and transferred an additional $81.5 billion to states.

• In 2021, state and local governments spent $218.5 billion, making up 56% of all transportation and infrastructure spending.