December 5, 2011 1:59PM 

# Ed. Policy Reality Check (Now with More Reality!) 

By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) 

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The *Orlando Sentinel* published an article over the weekend titled “[Education: Big reforms haven’t yet produced big results](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/fl-schools-stagnating-despite-reforms-20111203,0,3040989.story).” It seems to have been meant as a reality check, and certainly it does contain a few relevant facts, but it also leaves this statement from “critics” unchallenged: “schools won’t get better without more money.”

Slight problem: Florida’s k‑12 scholarship tax credit is raising academic achievement at less than half the per pupil cost of the traditional state-run schools. That’s according to academic studies commissioned by the state of Florida and by the state’s own spending and enrollment data.

[Figlio and Hart, 2010](http://www.nber.org/papers/w16056), found that the scholarship tax credit program improves academic performance in public schools; and [Figlio, 2011](http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/pdf/FTC_Research_2009-10_report.pdf), found that students using the scholarships to attend independent schools are also benefiting academically. As for cost, the average scholarship is about $4,000. For comparison, the state’s public school districts spent $27 billion in 2009-10 ([bottom of page 21, first column](http://www.fldoe.org/fefp/pdf/09-10profiles.pdf)), for [2.6 million students](http://www.fldoe.org/eias/eiaspubs/word/pk12mbrshp1011.doc), for per pupil spending of just over $10,000.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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