Florida spends almost 85 million on testing. A 7-fold increase from 1996

With a nod to Rita Solonet and Edushystercom

According to the Harpers Index, in 1996, Florida spent $4.44 per student on testing. 
Last year, Florida spent $30.59. http://harpers.org/archive/2013/05/harpers-index-350/

That is a 7-fold increase.

According to the Department of Education’s charter school study, there were 183,926 charter school students and 2,589,662 students in traditional public schools. That means we spent a bit over 84,844,000 dollars on testing.

I was told a while back that each teacher with benefits costs an average of 65,000 dollars. If we spent that money on teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers we could have had roughly 1300 more. 

What do YOU think would have been more beneficial?