D.C. Public Schools Spend $30K Per Student; Only 23% of 8th Graders Proficient in Reading
That is a failure and an indication that the problem isn't money.
The public elementary and secondary schools in the District of Columbia spent $30,115 per pupil during the 2016-2017 school year, according to Table 236.75 in the Department of Education's "Digest of Education Statistics."
But only 23% of the eighth graders in the D.C. public schools were proficient or better in reading in 2019, according to the department's National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, tests.