And here's the news release on comments by Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud:

COMMISSIONER DRAUD RESPONDS TO KLTPRC REPORT
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) - Education Commissioner Jon E. Draud says that a report from the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center (KLTPRC) provides "great news" for the state's P-12 education community.

The report, titled "Reducing Obstacles Will Yield Even Higher Academic Returns to Educational Investments," was released on Tuesday. In it, the KLTPRC notes that Kentucky's "investments in education yield higher results than predicted considering the obstacles we face."

Draud said that, although data in the report indicates that Kentucky ranks 36th in the nation in per-pupil spending, the state ranks as high as 8th nationwide in the area of cost-effective educational spending.

"This means that the teachers and administrators in Kentucky are doing a great job with the amount of money that is available," said Draud. "If we can moderate poverty, improve health conditions for children and educate more parents, then we can create a better place for all Kentuckians to work and live. This can be done if we invest in education."

The KLTPRC report provides data on the return states get from their investments in elementary and secondary education. Using states' performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the center developed a NAEP Proficiency Purchasing Power (NAEP PPP) index, which indicates how many "proficiency points" are attained for every $1,000 spent per pupil.

The index takes into account education spending, poverty levels, rural populations, limited-English proficiency students, obesity, missed school days and other factors. States with fewer obstacles tend to have higher PPP percentages. Kentucky has the 4th-highest number and extent of obstacles nationwide.

However, Kentucky's NAEP PPP index is 118 percent of what would be expected, meaning that the state has a high return on a small amount invested in P-12 education, even taking into account the obstacles to cost-effective spending. For every $1,000 spent on P-12 education, Kentucky gets about 3.6 NAEP proficiency points.

Utah has the highest PPP index -- 6.07 - and New Mexico has the lowest PPP index -- 2.31.

Since Kentucky's NAEP PPP index is 118 percent of what is predicted, the state ranks 8th-highest among the 50 states in cost-effective spending.