Measures of educational effort reflect a province's financial commitment to education. Educational effort is most commonly described as the expenditure on education relative to a province's ability to fund this sector. It is defined as the percentage of the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we spend on education.

Using this indicator, Figure 3 compares Newfoundland's educational effort with other provinces for three comparison years including the most recent year for which statistics are available. The chart shows this Province has made a greater commitment to education than any other province in Canada for all three comparison years. Over time, educational effort has been relatively stable at about 32% for the last five years except for 1992/93 when the expenditure as a percent of per capita GDP rose to just over 34%.

Although the total amount spent per student in this Province is lower than in many other provinces, the percentage of GDP per capita spent on education is highest. This indicates a substantial commitment to education in relation to the Province's ability to pay.