California schools still fall behind despite big increases in spending

As academic researchers continue to explore what happened to public education during and after the COVID19 pandemic, they are confirming the harsh reality of decline in such basic skills as reading and mathematics.

California’s schools are no exception, as the latest data from the Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaborative project of Harvard University and Stanford University, reveal.

Combining national and state academic test results, the research found that average student achievement in California remains 31% of a grade equivalent behind 2019 levels in math and 40% of a grade equivalent behind in reading.

However some California school systems bucked the trends. Compton Unified, serving one of Southern California’s poorest communities, was singled out for its progress in both reading and math.

“Between 2022 and 2024, Compton Unified has seen a steady rise in students’ performance on standardized tests in math, and their reading scores saw a jump post pandemic — an improvement that doesn’t surprise district Superintendent Darin Brawley, who has been leading the district since 2012,” EdSource, a website devoted to California education issues, reported. 

“Brawley attributes the district’s growth to ongoing diagnostic assessments in both English language arts and math, allocating resources based on students’ performance and aligning district standards to the state’s dashboard.”

“Compton Unified School District’s achievements are truly inspiring,” Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo told EdScource. “Their impressive graduation rate, coupled with significant academic growth and a strong focus on college and career readiness … demonstrate a deep commitment to student success.”

Compton was not alone in going against the grain. Scorecard researchers report that 31% of California students attend districts scoring above 2019 levels in math, with 12% of students in districts scoring above 2019 levels in reading and 10% in districts that have recovered in both.”

Compton and other bright spots tell us that California’s public education system, with nearly 6 million students, is not necessarily doomed. While the education establishment insists that California needs to spend more — a lot more — to raise achievement, the fact that some school districts can do it on the current level of finances indicates there’s more to the equation than money.

One way to look at the relationship of academic achievement and money is what the private sector calls “return on investment.” By happenstance another education research project does exactly that.

The Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University has calculated how well school systems are delivering academic results in relationship to how much money they’ve spent since 2013.

California, unfortunately, does not fare well vis-à-vis other states. Edunomics says that while California has elevated per pupil spending by 102% since 2013, reading comprehension has remained flat while math skills have dropped, based on federal academic tests.

California is not alone, since most states have seen academic declines during the period, but its lack of return on investment stands out because its 102% increase in per pupil spending is almost double the national increase of 56% and nearly three times the rate of inflation.

Brian Brennan, executive director of the 21st Century Alliance, a California organization that promotes governance reform and released the Edunomics data, said, “Anyone advocating for more education dollars in California needs to be straight with the public:  Will new investments provide better returns than those of the last decade?  Or, are we just doing more of the same, and hoping for a different outcome?”

Brennan cites the defeat of legislation that would have mandated the science of reading — in essence, phonics — to teach reading in California, as an example of official neglect. The powerful California Teachers Association led opposition to the legislation, Assembly Bill 2222, which died in the Assembly Education Committee a year ago without a vote.