Illustration by Cody Angell

About 50 students from the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University gathered at the state Capitol last Tuesday to protest the drastic budget cuts each university will be facing this year due to our state's $1 billion budget shortage.

When I first heard of the rally, I was unimpressed. I figured it was just a group of students whining over cutbacks that almost all Arizonans will have to deal with in one way or another. But when I heard about Governor Hull's decision to leave funding for public K-12 education untouched, I quickly changed my tune.

I know that proposing any sort of budget cut for the public school system is political suicide these days, but it's only appropriate that our student leaders should speak up when nonsense like this repeatedly takes place.

I strongly begrudge President Bush for vowing to increase federal spending on public education by 11 percent this year. I do credit him for bringing some new ideas to the table. But the primary reason for upping the education budget by that much was to take the issue away from the Democrats, which to some extent, he did.

Instead of addressing the issue and attempting to prevail on people's intelligence and common sense - that more spending doesn't necessarily equal better students - Bush took the safe and easy route of promises of more outlandish and over-the-top funding "for the children." The Republican party has put itself in the same political trap the Democrats stuck themselves in a long time ago.

Federal tax dollars only account for roughly 15 percent of all American public education spending, but most state governments - Arizona included - have led themselves to a similar point of no return. Politicians - federal, state, and local - know that education is always one of the biggest issues of any campaign, and for years, politicians have contended that the only way to improve poor public education systems is by dishing out more and more dough.

High dropout rates? Throw money at the problem. Low test scores? Throw money at the problem. Below-average English and math aptitude? You get the idea.

Money's supposed to make all K-12 problems disappear, but it's only created an entirely new dilemma of out-of-control spending.

Adjusted for inflation, spending per pupil in the U.S. has increased from $1,000 in 1935 to $3,000 in 1965 and to more than $7,000 today. Student-teacher ratios have dropped from 26% to 16% in the past 40 years. Has public education really improved since those times?

Consider a comparison of Utah and New York. New York spends $8,858 per pupil, third most in the nation; Utah spends $4,579, dead last. The average K-12 teacher's salary is $51,020 in New York, $34,824 in Utah.

But Utah's students average 65 points higher than the national average on the verbal section of the SAT and 57 points higher on the math section. New York students average 10 and nine points lower than the national average, translating to 75 and 66 points lower than Utah.

Also, a greater percentage of Utah's students were at or above proficiency than New York's in fourth-grade math, and fourth- and eighth-grade science. The states had equal marks in eighth-grade math and writing. New York had higher marks in fourth- and eighth-grade reading.

Summarizing, Utah had better or equal statistics in five of seven categories, and when averaging all seven together, Utah's students did more than a percentage point better than New York.

Some states that spend an above-average amount on K-12 education have above-average marks, and vice versa. But there is no strong correlation between spending and academic success.

Public schools, particularly elementary, don't need the latest technology for their students to succeed. All they need are capable teachers who can teach their kids to read, write add and subtract.

A computer in every classroom does little good if students don't know how to type.

Universities are somewhat different. Hands-on experiences and new technologies must be accessible to college students in order to best prepare them for the real world and real jobs ahead. Instead, the same tired political tactics used by our federal and state officials have hurt our university to the tune of $16 million.

I want to thank all the students who had the courage to take on the governor and state Legislature in Phoenix last week. The K-12 gravy train needs to come to a halt.