Texas vs. Pennsylvania on Educational Performance

At a hearing yesterday on right-to-work legislation, a number of testifiers remarked on the substantially greater job growth in right-to-work states, on the fact residents are moving from Pennsylvania to right-to-work states and the overall importance of right-to-work laws for state economic growth.

Of particular note was Texas, a right-to-work state, which saw job growth of 13.5 percent since 1999 (Pennsylvania job growth was a stagnant 0.6 percent in that time).

But critics charged back that education is far better in Pennsylvania than in Texas (with the implication students are better off because teachers are forced to pay fees to a union or lose their job). Au contraire! The data shows something entirely different once you delve into it.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), students overall perform at a higher average level in Pennsylvania. But when you break it down into sub-groups of students, a different trend is present.

On the 8th grade Math exam, White students do better in Texas, Hispanic students do better in Texas, Black Students do better in Texas and Low-Income students do better in Texas. On Reading, the results are mixed, with Hispanic students performing slightly better in Texas, and White and Low-Income students doing slightly better in Pennsylvania.

In short, Pennsylvania’s overall performance appears better, because the state has fewer Hispanic, Black and Low-Income students than does Texas.

But we at the Commonwealth Foundation support policies, including right-to-work and school choice, that benefit all children and residents, be they Hispanic, Black or Low-Income.