Spain's Castilla y León tops PISA, Basque Country lags despite high spending

Castilla y León leads PISA while Basque Country struggles

How can an aging, depopulated region with half the spending per student achieve better results than the one investing the most? This question lies at the heart of the latest PISA report and its creative thinking module, where Castilla y León once again surpasses the Basque Country. The overarching fact: spending per student in Euskadi is roughly double that of Castilla y León. From this starting point, conclusions are easy to draw in pubs and debates. In the statistics, it is more complex.

What do the PISA results say?

The premise is clear: Castilla y León, often called "the Prussia of the south," beats the Basque Country despite the latter doubling expenditure per student. The creative thinking module reinforces this picture: Spain as a whole ranks above the rest of Europe and the OECD. Within the country, the top performers are Castilla y León, Navarre, Galicia, Cantabria, and Madrid, ahead of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Valencian Community. In short: the region that spends the most does not lead the table, and the leader loses population every year. Two uncomfortable facts that each side interprets differently.

Why does Castilla y León score higher with less spending?

Because money is not the only input in an education system, and student profiles weigh more than statistics admit. Student-teacher ratios, poverty concentration in certain schools, and staff stability explain much of the gap. Castilla y León has fewer students per class and less classroom diversity than Euskadi or Catalonia: aging and depopulation, which hinder other areas, here boost statistical averages.

Another view suggests much of the spending goes to salaries and structure, not outcomes: adding funds to the same classroom does not buy math competency points. A third, more controversial thesis argues part of the advantage comes from having proportionally fewer migrant-origin students. It circulates with partial data; the sample does not disaggregate this factor, so it should be treated as a hypothesis, not a conclusion.

Public vs. state-funded private: the map doesn't match

Here the stereotype falls apart. Over 50% of Madrid's students attend public schools, and in the last university entrance exams (Selectividad), Madrid's public institutes reportedly outscored private and state-funded ones, with the highest average center outside the private network. Castilla y León maintains a strong public system, while the Basque Country, Navarre, and Catalonia have greater weight for state-funded and private education. The paradox, summarized in a common thesis: right-wing governed regions tend to have better public systems, left-wing ones more private education. Within Madrid's public network, English and German bilingual tracks also select students.

The exam Castilla y León fails

It trains the best, then exports them. This is the most painful diagnosis, and no one rebuts it. A region achieving excellence grades but lacking industry to absorb graduates becomes a supplier of technicians and team leaders for companies elsewhere: it educates with its own resources, while talent is harvested abroad. The continent's oldest province, industrial hubs like Burgos, and tech demand in León finding no candidates paint a labor market as unequal as the educational one.

Language as an excuse

Some analysis claims immersion in co-official languages reduces hours and performance, especially for students arriving late or from outside. Correlation exists; causality is unproven. Regions without such linguistic conflicts rank lower, breaking the argument on its most basic level.

With this scenario, families and companies should logically move en masse to the best-teaching region. They don't. Castilla y León wins PISA but loses inhabitants. Someone must explain why the class's best student still wants to leave.