Applying history
The AP has a story on the dismal Education Week ranking (D+) Minnesota teachers received. View the report for Minnesota, or make state by state comparisons here.
Despite the fact that Minnesota’s per-pupil spending is over $1,000 above the national average (adjusted for regional cost differences), and students have a “B+” “chance for success,” I predict that the performance in the area of teacher quality will be blamed almost entirely on a lack of funding.
If recent history is any indication, it will follow that the only way to improve teacher quality will be to increase that funding. Because, you see, it’s not that education is making poor use of resources, or that the state has failed at making teachers accountable. It’s we, the taxpayers, that need to do more.
Then again, who knows? I could be wrong. But I doubt it.