Here are the states that outperform Minnesota and spend less

Spending on E-12 public education is Minnesota’s biggest general fund expenditure. For the 2024-2025 biennium, E-12 education makes up nearly 35 percent of all general fund dollars and is expected to push nearly 39 percent for the 2026-2027 biennium.

The problem is this funding hasn’t translated into improved student achievement outcomes. State revenue per student, adjusted for inflation, is up 31 percent since 2002, yet Minnesota reading proficiency on statewide assessments steadily declined from 2017 to 2023, with 2024 results the same as in 2023. Math proficiency steadily declined from 2014 to 2023, with 2024 results also staying the same as in 2023. On national assessments, Minnesota fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores are the lowest they have been in decades and have declined consecutively in both grades tested since 2017.

How does Minnesota’s spending relative to its results compare nationally?

Using the most recent test data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the only objective student learning outcome measure available to compare states’ academic performance — Kathryn Perkins, Paul Powell, and Jeff Wasbes analyzed states’ per-pupil spending and fourth-grade reading scores.

Most notable is Florida. Not only does the state rank third nationally in fourth-grade reading performance, but its per-pupil spending has been consistently low. “It’s roughly $11,000-per-pupil expenditure places it in the bottom three nationally when adjusted to an equalized dollar across the 50 states,” reports the authors. (They used regional price parities from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to equalize the buying power of a dollar in each state.)

Compare that with Minnesota’s roughly $16,900-per-pupil spending and fourth-grade reading performance tied at #26 with Arizona’s, whose spending is at $11,700 per student.

In fact, 13 states outperform Minnesota on fourth-grade reading and spend less per student, according to the authors’ calculations. (See chart below.)

-Florida
-Colorado
-Utah
-Montana
-South Dakota
-Iowa
-Wisconsin
-Indiana
-Mississippi
-Kentucky
-South Carolina
-North Carolina
-Georgia

Ohio outperforms Minnesota and spends roughly the same per student.

Of course, there are also examples of states that spend far more than Minnesota and do far better — Massachusetts and Wyoming, ranked #1 and #2 in fourth-grade reading performance, spend $21,200 and $22,200 per student. And there are states that spend less than Minnesota and perform worse, and states that spend far more than Minnesota and still perform worse.

What does this tell us? As prominent education economist Eric Hanushek has long argued, it isn’t how much money is spent that matters but how it is spent. More money doesn’t guarantee better results.

There are clearly policy decisions and financial investments that certain states are making that are paying off. Florida is one strong example of this. Over the last two and a half decades, three strategies have defined its legislative agenda, according to Perkins, Powell, and Wasbes: “focusing on early education and ensuring all students read by third grade, developing assessment structures that monitor progress rather than impose high stakes, and building an increasingly robust school choice ecosystem.”

“While we can’t tease out the effects of individual policies on [Florida’s] achievements, results-oriented governors and legislatures should study and emulate Florida’s education model.”

State’s per-pupil spending (left) and NAEP reading performance (right)