Does higher spending produce better school results?
The public debate often assumes that more money for schools should produce better results. But when we plot municipalities' cost per compulsory school pupil against their merit values, a weaker relationship emerges than many expect.
The explanation is partly structural. Rural municipalities often have a high cost per pupil because they operate small units, provide school transport and lack economies of scale. Metropolitan municipalities can push down the cost per pupil without that necessarily saying anything about the quality of teaching.
That is why the colour matters in the chart. Municipalities with high teacher certification tend more often to sit in the upper half regardless of cost level. This suggests that the question is not only how much is spent, but what the resources actually go towards.
The most interesting observations are found at the extremes: municipalities with relatively low cost but high merit values, and municipalities with high cost but weak results. They tell us that resource levels, pupil backgrounds and local governance must be read together — not separately.
Statistics: academic year 2023/24. Source: Skolverket open data, Kolada and SCB. Processed by Skolkoll. Glossary · About the data.