In two recent blog posts ("An Advocate writer does it again..." and "Debunking the Myth of High Per Capita State Spending..."), I took issue with the undocumented charge that per capita state spending in Louisiana is significantly higher than the national average among the states. It is important for me to spend time on this subject because the implication of blindly accepting such a position by others means accepting the policy position that state spending in Louisiana, comparatively speaking, is out of hand and worthy of the budget ax!
I undertook an investigation of the legitimacy of this claim (or lack thereof), after witnessing a pattern of policy evaluations by some that could not be supported by objective evidence, and in fact that were easily refuted by such evidence. In this instance, I used 2015 data and concluded that Louisiana's per capita state spending was middle of the road among the fifty states. In response, legitimate concerns were raised about the reliability of data estimates for a fiscal year that was only half complete when published by the original source, whether the data was provided by the state budget office or not.
There are good reasons why I used only 2015 data: (1) The budget discussion at the time centered around recent (2015) budget issues in Louisiana, as the state legislature was involved in a special session intended to close a combined $3 billion shortfall over two fiscal years (2015 & 2016), and (2) I have a day job and a family, with no desire to become a full-time, unpaid government watchdog or media critic! Accumulating and analyzing data is about as labor intensive as it gets for a scholar working alone, even when composing for a personal blog on politics. For me, anyway, there is still a need for the standards of scientific data analysis!
Still, in response to questions about my use of 2015 data estimates, I went back into the data on Louisiana State per capita spending for the past six years (Actually, my data includes six years of data for all fifty states)! I'm glad that I did so, because my conclusion is confirmed that Louisiana state government does NOT have a spending problem! We have a revenue and priorities problem! As you can see in my chart below, contrary to the belief of many, data clearly indicates that state per capita spending of state funds was below the national average for five of the last six years, and consistently so during the last four years. For that matter, above average state per capita spending of federal funds was not enough to prevent total state per capita spending from being well below the national average for each of the past four years as well.
I undertook an investigation of the legitimacy of this claim (or lack thereof), after witnessing a pattern of policy evaluations by some that could not be supported by objective evidence, and in fact that were easily refuted by such evidence. In this instance, I used 2015 data and concluded that Louisiana's per capita state spending was middle of the road among the fifty states. In response, legitimate concerns were raised about the reliability of data estimates for a fiscal year that was only half complete when published by the original source, whether the data was provided by the state budget office or not.
There are good reasons why I used only 2015 data: (1) The budget discussion at the time centered around recent (2015) budget issues in Louisiana, as the state legislature was involved in a special session intended to close a combined $3 billion shortfall over two fiscal years (2015 & 2016), and (2) I have a day job and a family, with no desire to become a full-time, unpaid government watchdog or media critic! Accumulating and analyzing data is about as labor intensive as it gets for a scholar working alone, even when composing for a personal blog on politics. For me, anyway, there is still a need for the standards of scientific data analysis!
Still, in response to questions about my use of 2015 data estimates, I went back into the data on Louisiana State per capita spending for the past six years (Actually, my data includes six years of data for all fifty states)! I'm glad that I did so, because my conclusion is confirmed that Louisiana state government does NOT have a spending problem! We have a revenue and priorities problem! As you can see in my chart below, contrary to the belief of many, data clearly indicates that state per capita spending of state funds was below the national average for five of the last six years, and consistently so during the last four years. For that matter, above average state per capita spending of federal funds was not enough to prevent total state per capita spending from being well below the national average for each of the past four years as well.
However, please note that even if Louisiana were to go into a period of per capita state spending that is above the national average, across the board, I will defend it as necessary to do two things: (1) to reverse the absurd disinvestment in higher education in Louisiana that has occurred over the past eight years, and (2) to begin a massive, longterm refunding of higher education by Louisiana so that we can reach a first-stage, ten-year goal of increasing the number of people with college degrees in this state from 22.1% (47th among fifty states) to the current national average of 29.3%* (From Educational Attainment: 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates). Then, perhaps in a generation, we may reach the level of Massachusetts, where 40% of those who are 25 years of age and older have at least a bachelors degree and are prepared for the job market in a diverse economy dominated by the need for people with advanced intellectual and technological capabilities.
In Louisiana, subpar high school graduation rates and a comparatively low percentage of people with college degrees are NOT the mark of a state preparing for the future of its children. That takes investment! There are those in business who like to say that, "You have to spend money to make money!" We must spend more on education, increasing access and decreasing the cost to our students and their families! It is the needs of the people of this state that come first, not the desires of those who support a bankrupt ideology centered around a fantasy world in which Louisiana reverts to the form of a minimalist 18th century European colony!
In Louisiana, subpar high school graduation rates and a comparatively low percentage of people with college degrees are NOT the mark of a state preparing for the future of its children. That takes investment! There are those in business who like to say that, "You have to spend money to make money!" We must spend more on education, increasing access and decreasing the cost to our students and their families! It is the needs of the people of this state that come first, not the desires of those who support a bankrupt ideology centered around a fantasy world in which Louisiana reverts to the form of a minimalist 18th century European colony!
To enlarge it, click on the image below.
The spreadsheet holding this database is far too large to post easily on this site.
For the moment, you all will have to be satisfied with the chart.
* Corrected from an earlier version which had 31.96%. Also, readers may expand the number of states shown by using the table editing capabilities provided.
Copyright 2016 Michael Kurt Corbello
