School funds being spent inefficiently: survey

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Rich nations are spending far more on education than they did 12 years ago, but inefficient use of resources is hampering efforts to improve standards, the OECD said on Tuesday.

In its annual "Education at a Glance" survey, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that, by spending current resources more efficiently, learning levels could be raised by 22 percent.

"Countries are collectively spending more than they have ever done on education ... But the results gained from that investment are far from maximized," said the OECD, which represents 30 industrialized countries.

The Paris-based organization reported that just 55 percent of funding provided by the U.S. government for schools went to pay teachers, well below OECD levels of more than 63 percent.

Financing the expansion of higher education would be an issue for many countries in the future, it said. Spending per pupil had already begun to decline in some.

"Innovative financing and student support policies that mobilize extra public and private funding will be part of the answer and many countries are moving successfully in this direction...," it said.

Between 1995 and 2004, spending on education had increased by 42 percent on average in OECD countries as more people than ever completed secondary and university education, the OECD said.

However, it said the increase in education spending in that period had fallen behind growth in national income.