January 30, 2009 11:07AM # Schools Have Plenty of Money! By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE ![Media Name: 200901_blog_mccluskey2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/172395922072/200901_blog_mccluskey2.jpg?itok=WEiatKLK) How many times do we [have to repeat](https://www.cato.org/2008/10/03/could-we-just-get-one-thing-straight/) that the United States spends more per elementary and secondary student than almost any other industrialized nation before our political leaders stop talking like our schools get by on pennies a day? And how often do we have to point to [state spending](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5108) to show that, annual cries of the sky falling notwithstanding, expenditures have been on a very long, inflation-adjusted upward trend? Judging by [this tired fare](http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-29-duncaned_N.htm) from new U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan, and this [standard story of rage ](http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-rally30-2009jan30,0,465672.story)from California, a lot more. So here you go: Check out the OECD data [here](http://ocde.p4.siteinternet.com/publications/doifiles/962008041P1G011.xls) (table B1.1a)… …see the figures for state spending [here](http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_a174.asp)… …and reporters who cover incessant assertions of financial misery from educators, please check out the contact info for Cato’s media department [here](https://www.cato.org/pressroom.php). Operators are standing by. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).