[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EDUCATION SPENDING, HIGHER; SAT SCORES, LOWER

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, is there a relationship between how much 
money is spent on education and how well our students perform 
academically? After all, if I look at a graph showing the SAT scores 
since 1960 and spending on education since 1960, I might be tempted to 
conclude that spending just keeps going higher and higher while SAT 
scores keep going lower and lower.
  Further, an independent analysis of how much money spent on education 
in cities like Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, or Kansas City will 
show that school districts that spend the most often have the worst 
schools.
  What is the logical conclusion? When I speak to teachers in my 
district and throughout Nevada they all agree that it is important that 
schools are adequately funded but no one says that the money is the 
most important thing. So what makes for better student achievement? 
Most important are loving parents who teach their children that 
reading, writing, and arithmetic are important. No government program 
can do that. That is something money cannot buy.

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