Although the United States lags behind other industrialized nations in regards to
educational achievement, American schools have been exceptionally funded in
comparison to its international counterparts. In 2007, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), calculated that the United States spent $10,768
per primary school student and secondary school student that is 45 percent higher than
the OECD average. One explanation for the spending is America’s commitment to
special needs students and technology. At the secondary school level, the United States
spent per pupil, 30 percent more than Germany, 16 percent more than France, 41 percent
more than Japan, 48 percent more than the United Kingdom, 40 percent more than
Sweden, 29 percent more than Belgium, 45 percent more than Finland and 118 percent
more than South Korea. Of all the world’s nations, only Switzerland equaled the United
States in spending per pupil (Hess, 2004). Improvements in overall student progress have
not improved despite federal education funding doubling between 1996 and 2003 in the
United States that translates into a jump from $23 billion to more than $50 billion
annually (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003). The American educational
reform philosophy must shift from the belief that pouring money into inefficient
programs will improve the quality of education in public schools