The results are as shown in Table 1. Our second approach overcomes this bias by expanding the analysis to incorporate three additional factors within each community - the crime rate, the proportion of the work force consisting of professionals or managers, and the median income. The results are again clear. All three factors are statistically significant. More spending, however, does not improve performance.
Spending is statistically insignificant for all three grades.
These results imply that the socioeconomic conditions under which school children live and receive their education are so much more important than the amount spent on their schools as to reduce to insignificance the effect of additional spending on academic achievement. More spending of the kind mandated by the education reform bill is likely to be ineffective for improving this achievement. No, government might, for example, address one socioeconomic condition against which it can be directly effective - crime. It might spend more on school crime-prevention programs, police patrols, or neighborhood watch groups. Another, even more effective option is to empower parents through vouchers, school choice or tuition tax credits.