The Value Propositions Associated with Funding Research-Based K-12 Education Practices

Given what the evidence says about the role education plays in building both an individual’s and a state’s economic competitiveness, the questions for policymakers become: Can the value of adequately investing in K-12 education be quantified? Is it possible to identify how making appropriate investments in specific, evidenced based educational practices today, can generate quantifiable economic and other benefits to society tomorrow? The answers, as it turns out, are yes and yes. There are numerous metrics available that allow decision makers to measure the economic value of both investing adequately in public education overall, as well as the value proposition associated with investing appropriately in various specific, evidence based educational practices.

Using previous studies as a baseline, CTBA calculated the economic impact of improving graduation rates, boosting student preparation for college, and increasing the number of college graduates in Illinois. If the state were able to increase the high school graduation rate to 90 percent, the additional high school graduates would earn an additional $111.6 million in annual wages. At the same time, if Illinois were to increase the percentage of people who have a college degree from its current rate of 30.6 percent, to the rate of Massachusetts which is currently at 38.2 percent, those new college graduates would earn $219 million more in wages annually. If Illinois were to increase high school and college graduation rates as aforesaid, the state would add 15,500 new college graduates annually, who would earn an aggregate of $26.6 billion more over their lifetimes than if they were to only graduate high school. These new graduates would increase tax revenue in Illinois by $118 million annually.