Colorado’s public school students are on an Oliver Twist funding diet of gruel without milk. They’ve been on this “let them eat mush” meal plan since 2009-10 when the state’s education economy tanked.

Most kids don’t achieve to their potential on gruel. Here’s the factual, no-nonsense dollars-and-cents data points underlying stagnant graduation rates, increasing drop-out rates and standardized testing scores. The state should not be proud.

Mapleton School District has seen its student population grow from 5,374 children, with 3,211 at-risk, in 2009 to 8,203 in 2014, with 4,327 at-risk. Despite this population jump, its per-student allotment has trended down over seven years due to underfunding.

For seven years, Mapleton has lost roughly $900 per year per pupil in its budget. It’s a cumulative dollar loss since 2009-10 of $6,246 per pupil, almost one school year’s worth of funding per student. Most public schools in the state, including charters, have seen a similar, total one-year per pupil loss.

Educators say that eighth grade is critical for academic development. Kids who do well in eighth grade go on to college without remediation. Last year’s eighth-graders have been without full funding since they were in second grade. They are struggling.

Examine these results. Lauded Denver charter schools KIPP and DSST in northeast Denver have gotten their eighth graders to 32-38 percent “meet expectations” in math and 46-47 percent “meet expectations” in English/Language Arts. The schools receive millions of extra dollars from foundations and big donors, but they haven’t broken the 50 percent “meets expectations” threshold in their free-and-reduced lunch schools.

Laredo Middle School, situated in Aurora in the Cherry Creek School District, with a diverse demographic, got 38 percent of its eighth-graders to “meet expectations” in ELA and only 11 percent to “meet expectations” in math. Since sixth grade, Laredo’s eighth-graders didn’t take home a math textbook. When parents don’t have a text to help with math homework, they can’t help with math homework, and it shows.

Even the highly respected, core knowledge D’Evelyn Junior High, a choice-in option school in Jefferson County, struggles to get its eighth-graders to “meet expectations,” with 65 percent meeting standards in ELA and only 22 percent in math.

D’Evelyn’s ninth-graders are at 83 percent “meet expectations” in ELA and its 10th-graders at 87 percent. Only D’Evelyn’s 11th-graders, who received full funding for more years of their schooling, scored outstanding: 96 percent of 11th-graders “meet expectations” in ELA. Evidence here suggests that, grade by grade, lower funding has lowered academic achievement.

Schools up and down the economic demographic cannot get their eighth-graders close to 80 percent “meet expectations” in ELA and math. These eighth-graders, now in ninth grade, are probably doomed to finish their education lacking another full school year’s worth of funding. They’ll be two years down in resources, but the children are supposed to graduate on time and college and career ready. That doesn’t, and won’t, add up.