Statement: The United States is “last in education out of 40 states … but we’re No. 1 in cost per pupil.”
As he described his intention to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, President Donald Trump derided the U.S. education system, arguing the country performs the worst globally while spending the most.
In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier that aired Feb. 10, Trump said the U.S. performs poorly on the global scale despite spending more than others on education.
“We’re last in education out of 40 states,” Trump said. “We’re last, we’re No. 40, but we’re No. 1 in cost per pupil.”
Although Trump said “states,” it became clear as he spoke that he was referring to other nations — he described Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and China as being top in education globally. He did not, however, clarify all 40 countries he was referring to. A White House spokesperson pointed us to data on a U.S. educational assessment that provided no international comparison supporting Trump’s claim.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, a group of advanced, industrialized nations, measures international education outcomes.
But the U.S. doesn’t rank last among the 38 OECD member states on any education metric, according to the organization’s data. The organization measures countries by student skills, educational attainment, years in education and economic equality.
“The US is rarely at the very bottom of an educational rankings that includes a broad range of countries,” like the OECD, said Ofer Malamud, a Northwestern University economist researching international education. “Although it isn’t usually near the top of these lists either.”
On cost per pupil, the U.S. spends much more than the international average, but it is not the highest spender of the OECD countries.
Trump’s criticism of the Education Department came as he and ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — an agency Trump established by executive order — try to dismantle the Education Department and cancel large swaths of the department’s spending. In the Fox News interview, Trump argued states would perform better in education if they received money directly rather than through Education Department programs.
“While we spend billions of taxpayer dollars to fund our education system, less than half of 4th and 8th graders are performing at proficient levels in reading or math,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in an email, referring to National Center for Education Statistics’ state-by-state test scores known as the nation’s report card.
The OECD measures education outcomes based on the educational attainment, skills and years in education. OECD’s member countries include Sweden, France, Turkey, South Korea and Colombia. Its data included 37 to 41 countries, depending on when it was collected and which countries participated.
The U.S. ranks eighth out of 41 countries in the portion of people with at least a secondary, or high school, education, with 92% of its people aged 25 to 65 holding a high school diploma.
On the average number of years students spend in formal education, the U.S. ranks 23rd out of 41. From age 5, a child in the U.S. will spend an average of 17.3 years in formal education, according to the OECD.
Mexico ranks last in educational attainment, while Colombia ranks last in years in education. The leaders in both those metrics were Russia and Australia, respectively.
The OECD administers the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, to member states and nonmember states. Looking at the 37 member states that reported scores in 2022, U.S. students scored above the international average in reading and science, but below average in math.
The U.S. ranked 13th in science with a score that was 14 points above the OECD average. In reading, it ranked sixth, scoring 28 points above average. Math performance was lower: The U.S. ranked 28th, scoring seven points below OECD average.
When compared with all 81 countries that took the test in 2022, including non-OECD countries, the U.S. ranked 16th in science, ninth in reading, and 34th in math.
PISA test scores also reveal, however, that when U.S. student performance is measured against itself, scores have dropped in the last several years. From 2018 to 2022, science scores fell by three points, reading by one point, and math by 13 points. Meanwhile, U.S. science and reading performance have risen modestly over the last 20 years while math has declined overall in line with global trends.
An OECD report pointed to COVID-19-related school closures and access to digital devices as contributing to weaker scores.
U.S. performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress has also fallen since 2018. Less than half the surveyed fourth and eighth grade students performed at proficient levels in reading and math in the 2023 survey.
The amount the government spends on education per pupil in the U.S. is well above the international average, but not the highest of the 37 OECD countries measured in 2021.
Combining public spending on elementary, high school and postsecondary education, the U.S. spent $20,387 per pupil on education in 2021 compared with an average of $14,209 across the measured countries. That puts the U.S. in third place, behind Luxembourg and Norway. The numbers are adjusted for purchasing power in the different countries.
The U.S. ranking is pulled higher by its spending on college education, which includes dollars dedicated for research and development and is second after Luxembourg. Looking at primary schools alone, the U.S. spends the sixth most of the 37 countries, with $15,270 per pupil. The OECD average was $11,902.
Comparing education spending across countries is difficult, education experts said, because countries approach education funding differently.
“The U.S. has long provided more services to students — such as meals, transportation, extracurriculars such as sports, and special education — than do other countries,” Vanderbilt University public policy and education professor Sean Corcoran said. “Many of these services do not translate directly into higher student achievement, but they are highly valued by families and society as a whole.”
Because U.S. education is mostly funded by state and local governments, per-pupil spending can vary widely by school district, University of Washington education history professor Matthew Kelly said.
Although there are some exceptions, high-income school districts tend to spend more money on education per pupil and have better outcomes, while low-income districts tend to spend less and have worse outcomes.
Kelly said extensive research has demonstrated that higher education funding leads to better test scores, lower high school dropout rates and higher college enrollment rates.
Trump said the U.S. is “last in education out of 40 states” and “No. 1 in cost per pupil.”
Both claims are wrong. The U.S. does not lead any international rankings for education, but it is not at the bottom of the list, either. Cost per pupil is higher than most developed countries, but not the highest.
We rate Trump’s claim False.
