WV education spending, 5/29/07

The topic on average spending on public education by state drew several responses. I figured it would be easier to start a new comment so we can keep it going longer.

“Average” expenditures per student are a good start, but only a start. Those numbers came out just last week. That’s why I posted them. To me it’s always been interesting to see that West Virginians are willing to give up a greater share of their incomes to pay for education.

But when you get down to it, “average” doesn’t tell you that much in itself. It’s the distribution that counts. It’s like someone who used to work for the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked me once: Did you hear about the man who drowned in a lake that has an average depth of six inches?

When I see things about WESTEST scores or ACT scores, usually the mean or median scores are released, but not the distribution. I want to know if most scores are above average or below average, and I want to know how those scores are distributed.

But “average” is the quickest and easiest to calculate, and it’s a good starting point for getting into the rest of the numbers. For example, how much money is spent on special education? How many students are in special education classes vs. the national average? On benefits, how much of that is health benefits and how much is pension?

It will take me a while to dig into the numbers. It’s Tuesday afternoon, and my week gets really busy from 10 a.m. Wednesday through 6 p.m. Friday.