(The Center Square) − Louisiana spends less per student than most of the country, yet its fourth graders are outperforming peers in nearly every other state.

Data released Jan. 29 from the Urban Institute ranks Louisiana second in the nation for reading when adjusted for race and income, despite per-pupil spending of just $13,800 – thousands of dollars less than what some states spend.

Spending data is sourced from the World Population Review.

By comparison, Vermont spends $33,000 per student but ranks 46th, and Connecticut spends $25,000 yet lands at 13th. Other small, high-spending states like Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Alaska all exceed $20,000 per student but trail far behind Louisiana in the Institute’s rankings.

Oregon, Maine, North Dakota, Delaware, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, and West Virginia all spend at least $1,000 more per student despite having populations similar or less than that of Louisiana.

The results from the Urban Institute place Mississippi first, Louisiana second, and Florida third, upending long-held assumptions that higher funding guarantees stronger academic outcomes.

Louisiana Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley credited the progress to sweeping literacy reforms passed over the last five years.

“I think it’s a testament to the work teachers are doing in classrooms and the policies that have been passed and implemented,” Brumley told The Center Square in an interview. “Louisiana has a lot of challenges – poverty and other issues – and we’ve long been challenged educationally. To see Louisiana stack up that way is promising. But we’re not satisfied with just being second. We want to be No. 1 overall, on absolute performance – and that’s the direction we’re trending.”

Louisiana, which was ranked last in fourth grade reading in 2019 according to Brumley, has climbed to 16th overall in raw scores, while leading the nation in reading growth in back-to-back National Assessment of Educational Progress cycles.

The state’s turnaround is rooted in a “back-to-basics” approach. Louisiana banned “three cueing,” a practice that had students guess words from pictures, and mandated phonics-based reading instruction. Every K–3 teacher and principal has completed 50 hours of training in the science of reading, while colleges of education overhauled teacher preparation.

The state also introduced three annual literacy screeners for K–3 students, notifying parents of results, and expanded tutoring for every child not reading at grade level.

“We’ve worked with our legislature and our State Board of Education to pass a ton of policies that go back to the basics and teach the science of reading,” Brumley said. And I think that’s making a real difference. When you, when you step inside the Louisiana school, you just see so much energy now around teaching children how to read, and it’s being done properly.”