It's pretty clear that while spending is a factor, it's probably not the biggest one. The countries that seem to do best are those that combine adequate funding with real rigor in instruction.
I posted elsewhere you can't just compare across the globe like that. You have to think about cost of living and especially opportunity cost. In the US, teacher pay lags behind similarly educated professionals, which means they get stretched thin and the best with options will leave.
We're higher paying than a number of countries with higher cost of living that (whether fairly or unfairly) pay lower than us.
I stand by my assertion. I don't think our per pupil spending is the major bottleneck in our performance. I think our educational system needs fundamental reform (just like everything else in this country)
> While U.S. teachers make 58% of their counterparts’ salaries, Finnish teachers make 92% of the salaries of similarly educated professions. This trend follows with other countries ranked highly in the World Happiness Report. Teachers in Denmark (ranked #2 in World Happiness) make 81% of their counterparts’ salaries and teachers in Sweden (ranked #4) make 74% of their counterparts’ salaries.
I mean, I don't deny that teachers are paid less compared to other fields, but that is actually pretty universal among occupations that provide the worker with a higher sense of purpose. You can see the same thing in social work, the non profit sector and elsewhere. Whether that's truly just is an entirely different question than 'is there a direct relationship between teacher pay and student achievement' and looking at all other sources I've provided, there clearly is not.
New Mexico (where I live) is dead last in education out of all 50 states. They are currently advertising for elementary school teachers between 65-85K per year. Summers off. Nice pension. In this low cost of living state that is a very good salary, particularly the upper bands.