Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991                   TAG: 9104090356
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

TEACHERS: STUDY SHOWS LAG IN U.S. SCHOOL SPENDING

Government spending on U.S. public and private education - from kindergarten through postsecondary education - equaled 5.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. That ranked 10th of 15 advanced nations in 1987, the latest year for which comparable data are available, according to the study by the American Federation of Teachers.

Denmark spent 7.6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, followed by Sweden, 7.2 percent; Canada, 7.1 percent; the Netherlands, 6.8 percent; Norway, 6.7 percent; France, 6 percent; Austria, 5.9 percent; Belgium, 5.3 percent; and Australia, 5.2 percent.

Trailing the United States: Japan, Britain and Switzerland each devoted 5 percent to schools, while Italy spent 4.7 percent and then-West Germany 4.5 percent.

"This study lays to rest the myth that the U.S. spends more than other nations," said Albert Shanker, president of the 750,000-member teachers union. "No matter how you measure it, our investment falls short of being number one."

Among factors contributing to lower U.S. spending, the study said America had the fourth-highest pupil-teacher ratio of 18.7, compared with an average of 15.8 among the 15 nations studied.

The United States also had the second largest average elementary enrollments at 352 per school, compared with a 186-pupil average for the 15 countries.

Still, the report is unlikely to end the debate about whether the United States should be spending more.

Japan, for example, had the largest average school enrollments, 412 pupils, but most consider it an educational pacesetter.