Invest in Education Arizona study by the Arizona Center for Economic Progress argues taxpayer spending for education is a benefit to Arizona.
The executive summary states “the potential impact to Arizona’s economy from restoring the $1.9 billion in funding cuts to public schools since 2009” would be “In the long-run Arizona’s productivity could potentially grow between 1.8 percent per year and almost 4 percent per year.”
What the study does not show though, is how much the GDP grew when the $1.9 billion spent by the individuals on goods and services they want and not on the education industry the state of Arizona wants.
Using 2009 as the base line and projecting a growth of 4% per year the GDP for 2019 would be $291,569 million. The actual GDP (the numbers are taken from the St. Louis Federal Reserve) was $366,189 million.
Taking taxpayer money and spending it on education would have reduced the GDP not increase it.
