Trostel Featured in WalletHub Article on School Rankings
University of Maine economist Philip Trostel was cited in a WalletHub article that ranked school systems in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School systems were ranked using 12 metrics — including student-teacher ratios, dropout rates, test scores and bullying incident rates. WalletHub found New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont, respectively, have the best school systems. Schools in Washington, D.C. were ranked last. Those in Mississippi and Alabama rounded out the bottom three. Maine tied for 17th with Illinois. Trostel said from a public finance perspective, tax exemptions for school items are bad public policy because they benefit nonpoor families more than poor families and come with a high public cost. “There are probably about $20 in tax benefits to nonpoor families for every $1 of tax benefits to poor children,” he said. “If we really want to help poor children with their education, we should take those $21 and use them for programs that directly help them, and just them.” Peers are the single most-important factor of a top school, he said. When it comes to student success, Trostel said both family and school are important, but in general, family matters more.