Education vs. Prison Spending

In Iowa, spending on incarceration outweighs spending on education. Here are some facts:


Increase in incarceration rate 31
Growth in prison spending per capita 21
Growth in higher education spending per capita 8
These facts from http://www.motherjones.com/ show that more money is spent on social order than spent on education. Also, a disproportionate amount of blacks are imprisoned. Blacks make up 3% of the general population but 67% of prison population. This is a state that Obama won easily in the primary. ISEA reports "an Iowa teacher earns the average teacher salary of $40,877 at age 42 after teaching for 15 years. (Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Basic Education Data Survey). Additionally, The average Iowa teaching salary is about $20,000 below the average salary for other Iowa professionals with similar education requirements and job skills." I'm not for throwing more money at education since I believe teachers are paid their marginal product. What I am favoring are incentives that help our state make good choices to avoid incarceration.