We spend an average $10,995 in public dollars on each US elementary and secondary student, but other countries spend less to get better reading, math and science test scores. Japan spends $8,301 per student and South Korea spends less, at $6,723, but both outpace US academic performance. The US outlay per student is $2,826 more than the average in industrialized countries. Then again, the biggest spenders per student – Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland – have mixed results compared to the US.