Test Scores Fall as School Spending Hits Record High, Fueling Push for More Choice

New international test results show American 15-year-olds posting some of the lowest reading and math scores the country has recorded in a generation, even as per-student spending has reached record levels, according to a Fox News opinion column by Corey DeAngelis that cites recent PISA, Census Bureau and Gallup data.

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores show reading scores dropping another 14 points, with math scores near historic lows, the column says. That decline comes even as the United States now spends more per student than any other country, at over $21,000 per student, according to Census Bureau data cited in the piece. New Gallup polling referenced in the column found 67% of adults report dissatisfaction with the K-12 education system, the highest level of dissatisfaction on record.

The column argues that rising school-choice options are giving parents room to voice long-held frustrations with public schools, though it does not cite independent data measuring parent sentiment beyond the Gallup figure.

Staffing and Enrollment Trends

Since 2014, public schools nationally have added about 620,000 employees while student enrollment has dropped by roughly 775,000, the column states, citing this as evidence that staffing has grown even as the number of students served has shrunk.

As an example, the column points to Frederick Douglass Academy High School in Chicago, which it says is about 97% empty. Built to hold more than 1,000 students, the school now enrolls 27 children and employs 28 adults, according to the piece. Nearly two-thirds of those students are described as chronically absent. The school reportedly spends more than $90,000 per pupil, yet no students tested proficient in math or reading, per the figures cited.

New York City and Statewide Homeschooling

In New York City, the column states that 43% of public school students attend campuses where more than half the student body is not proficient in math, reading or both, even as the city spends more than $40,000 per student annually — more than half a million dollars over a 13-year K-12 education.

The piece also cites data showing homeschooling in New York has grown by more than 200% over the past 15 years, with 53,905 children now homeschooled statewide and a sharp increase within New York City specifically. The Home School Legal Defense Association ranks New York among the states with the most restrictive homeschool regulations, according to the column.

Texas Voucher Waitlist

Texas passed a new school choice program in 2025, but more than 100,000 children are currently on a waitlist because the state legislature allocated only $1 billion in funding, the column reports. Texas Comptroller Don Huffines has proposed doubling that funding next year.

Each scholarship under the program is worth about $10,000 per student annually, while Texas public schools already spend roughly twice that amount per student, according to the latest Texas Education Agency data cited in the piece.

The column also notes that 18 states have passed universal school choice policies over the past six years, a trend it links to parent frustration with public schools that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.