State and local spending on postsecondary education has remained mostly flat since 1990, the report said. U.S. state and local spending on prisons and jails grew at three times the rate of spending on schools over the last 33 years as the number of Americans behind bars ballooned under a spate of harsh sentencing laws, a government report released Thursday said. Seven states - Idaho, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia - each exceeded the average rate, increasing their corrections spending five times as fast as they did their pre-kindergarten to grade 12 education spending. The report did not analyze different state policies that could explain these exceptions, King said on a conference call. U.S. Secretary of Education John King said the report's stark numbers should make state and local governments reevaluate their spending priorities and channel more money toward education.

Source: Thanhnien News July 07, 2016 22:07 UTC