But researchers have been unable to establish a correlation between student achievement and factors like class size, per-pupil spending and teacher salaries. Data amassed by University of Rochester economist Eric Hanushek shows that while K-12 class sizes have fallen dramatically for decades, student achievement has not improved. Much of that would go for non-school priorities like nationalized health care. But even if the NEA got every extra penny it sought for education, there is no reason to believe classrooms would benefit much. Audits have shown that as little as one-fourth of school districts' federal funds actually reach the classroom.
Federal aid is a boon for bureaucracy.
The Cleveland public schools have a catastrophic dropout rate of 60 percent and flunk all 18 of Ohio's proficiency tests. In slamming Cleveland's vouchers, Chase relied on early data compiled by Indiana University researcher Kim Metcalf. But when, a week after Chase's broadside, Metcalf turned in his third-year evaluation to the Ohio legislature, it showed that the voucher students had begun to show remarkable academic gains. Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr., soon heard the parents' cries and lifted his injunction. But the NEA president has never retracted his false statements.