If only the schools had the money they need ...

I'll admit to being attracated by the subject line of the latest daily issue brief of the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute,  "Stairway to Heaven."

The subject of this brief commentary is so good that it's worth reprinting in full:

Led Zeppelin’s 1971 hit "Stairway to Heaven" could be the theme song for the Napolitano Administration’s plan to improve public education:

There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is goldww
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven.

When it comes to reforming education, the administration’s plans invariably amount to more funding: whether more kindergarten classes, more money for tutoring, or higher teacher pay. There’s little evidence, however, that more spending will actually get Arizona to the promised land.

General Fund spending on K-12 education increased 70 percent since 2003. Of course, Arizona is a rapidly growing state that educates an increasing number of students each year. But, even after adjusting for inflation and population growth, the state spends 27 percent more on education than it did just four years ago. Meanwhile, fourth and eighth grade reading scores on the NAEP exam have stagnated and math scores, while improving, are improving at a slower pace than the national average.

This is disappointing, but not surprising. In a meta-analysis of 65 studies, Eric Hanushek, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, found that 80 percent of the studies "showed either no significant relationship between spending and achievement or, in a few cases, a negative relationship."

A new Goldwater Institute report finds schools facing competition through school choice improve test scores at a faster pace than those not facing competition. Public schools facing competition had test score gains twice as large in math and more than four times as large in reading as schools that did not face competition. Arizona is a national test case in what works; we just need more of it.

Arwynn Mattix is a policy analyst at the Goldwater Institute.