Regular school districts had median total revenues per pupil of $9,702 in fiscal year 2005 (FY05) (table 1). The federal range ratio2 was 1.8, which indicates that the magnitude of the difference between total revenues per pupil at the 5th ($7,021) and 95th ($19,680) percentiles of districts was approximately 180 percent. Independent charter school districts had median total revenues per pupil of $8,098 in FY05, with a federal range ratio of 2.0.
For regular school districts, median current expenditures per pupil were $8,237 in FY05 (table 2). Median expenditures per pupil on instruction and instruction-related activities in regular school districts were $5,326. For independent charter school districts, median current expenditures per pupil were $7,229 in FY05. Median expenditures per pupil on instruction and instruction-related activities in independent charter school districts were $3,956.
In FY05, the lowest five percent of regular school districts had current expenditures per pupil of $6,176 or less, while the highest 5 percent had current expenditures per pupil of $15,301 or more, with a federal range ratio of 1.5 (table 3). The lowest five percent of independent charter school districts had current expenditures per pupil of $4,461 or less, while the highest 5 percent had current expenditures per pupil of $14,868 or more, with a federal range ratio of 2.3.
Unified regular school districts3 had median current expenditures per pupil of $8,061 in FY05, with a federal range ratio of 1.3, while unified independent charter school districts had median current expenditures per pupil of $6,859, with a federal range ratio of 2.6 (table 4).
Table 5 compares regular school districts with independent charter school districts. The independent charter school districts had greater variations in spending (table 5). For example, the federal range ratio for total expenditures per pupil for regular school districts was 1.7, while the federal range ratio for independent charter school districts was 2.5.
There were 19 states that reported data for independent charter school districts in their school systems in FY05. Median current expenditures per pupil ranged from a low of $6,331 in Utah to a high of $12,979 in the District of Columbia for regular noncharter school districts that included no charter schools (table 6). Median current expenditures per pupil ranged from $4,774 in Utah to $12,841 in Oregon for independent charter school districts in the same set of states.
In FY05, current expenditures per pupil in the 100 largest public school districts ranged from a low of $4,641 in Alpine School District, Utah, to a high of $16,124 in Boston City School District, Massachusetts (table 7).
Approximately $44.7 billion was received by local education agencies from the federal government for public elementary and secondary education in FY05 (table 8).
2 The federal range ratio indicates the difference between the amount per pupil of the district at the 95th percentile and the district at the 5th percentile divided by the amount per pupil for the district at the 5th percentile. More information about the federal range ratio can be found in Appendix A: Methodology and Technical Notes. 3 Unified districts provide both elementary and secondary education services and instruction.
