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Money can’t buy genius

Released: 
July 31, 2012

The U.S. spends almost $11,000 on every K-12 student. Other nations spend less – and get better results.

We spend an average $10,995 in public dollars on each US elementary and secondary student, but other countries spend less to get better reading, math and science test scores. Japan spends $8,301 per student and South Korea spends less, at $6,723, but both outpace US academic performance. The US outlay per student is $2,826 more than the average in industrialized countries. Then again, the biggest spenders per student – Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland – have mixed results compared to the US.