8. Declining Per Capita Investment in Public Schools and the Growth of Private Schooling. Public education is a public good and the basis for a great many features of community and civil society. In the England and Wales, for example, spending on public education increased annually between 1956 and 1997 by an average of 3.7% but was cut as part of austerity measures following the spending review of 2010. Similar developments occurred in the US - where 29 States were providing less funding per capita in 2015 than they were in 2008. In higher education a great many jurisdictions have reduced per capita spending of students (and raised tuition through debt mechanisms and increased revenues to colleges and universities from international students). While globally expenditure on education grew, so too did the number attending school. As more jurisdictions deal with debts and deficits through austerity measures, they either maintain an education budget and not adjust for inflation (Netherlands) or reduce per capita spending (Ireland, Greece, US, Latvia, UK). At the same time, a great deal of privatization has occurred not just in terms of schools but also through the growth of tutoring. This leads in some jurisdictions to a great deal of fragmentation of the education system and to competition.