Table 236.85.

Unadjusted and geographically adjusted current expenditure per pupil in fall enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by locale, function, and district poverty level: 2015-16

Function and district poverty level	Total	City				Suburban				Town				Rural
		Total	Large	Midsize	Small	Total	Large	Midsize	Small	Total	Fringe	Distant	Remote	Total	Fringe	Distant	Remote
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Current expenditure per pupil in unadjusted dollars
Total, all functions and     districts	$11,474	$11,928	$12,732	$10,890	$11,174	$11,627	$11,752	$10,823	$10,836	$10,368	$10,757	$10,331	$10,120	$10,955	$10,723	$10,789	$12,323
All districts, by function1
Instruction	7,045	7,417	8,115	6,484	6,793	7,171	7,262	6,583	6,589	6,234	6,526	6,204	6,051	6,549	6,504	6,405	7,127
Student support2	637	626	583	666	683	709	722	629	624	535	570	517	537	527	569	484	485
Instructional staff     services3	524	574	558	615	571	534	538	525	463	460	447	468	457	443	445	415	509
General administration	212	163	169	142	171	187	187	168	214	273	274	275	268	340	245	391	569
School administration	641	650	649	667	636	659	665	621	619	588	609	589	571	614	602	607	676
Operation and maintenance	1,043	1,073	1,146	968	1,015	1,046	1,055	987	999	975	988	961	987	1,025	980	1,006	1,252
Student transportation	489	455	492	418	413	491	495	461	474	447	494	455	396	587	562	608	629
Other support services4	398	460	496	434	407	391	393	369	389	343	378	335	328	331	321	320	402
Food services	467	496	513	483	471	418	413	450	444	503	463	519	510	521	482	536	627
Enterprise operations5	17	12	11	13	14	23	22	30	19	11	9	9	15	18	13	15	47
All functions, by district    poverty level6
Low-poverty districts	12,302	10,761	9,434	10,753	11,909	12,724	12,831	11,965	11,453	11,040	11,300	10,406	11,622	12,146	12,386	11,252	13,601
Middle-low–poverty districts	10,872	10,584	10,191	10,538	10,975	10,977	11,042	10,651	10,457	10,725	10,652	10,665	10,902	11,041	10,566	11,191	12,707
Middle-high–poverty districts	10,314	10,155	9,747	10,365	10,740	10,510	10,594	9,808	10,289	10,081	10,177	10,165	9,883	10,376	9,755	10,535	12,224
High-poverty districts	12,407	13,749	14,854	11,574	11,389	11,502	11,798	10,430	11,177	10,076	10,882	10,231	9,567	10,564	10,007	10,395	11,911
	Current expenditure per pupil adjusted for geographic cost differences7
Total, all functions and     districts	$12,046	$12,124	$12,492	$11,429	$12,000	$11,720	$11,712	$11,701	$11,906	$12,117	$11,931	$12,138	$12,229	$12,768	$12,113	$12,823	$15,164
All districts, by function1
Instruction	7,383	7,528	7,965	6,796	7,287	7,221	7,231	7,118	7,232	7,286	7,238	7,293	7,313	7,626	7,340	7,611	8,781
Student support2	662	637	570	697	729	709	714	676	682	623	629	606	648	609	637	576	597
Instructional staff     services3	548	583	542	644	615	539	537	569	506	537	495	549	550	516	505	494	620
General administration	228	164	162	150	185	189	187	182	239	321	305	324	326	401	278	465	703
School administration	673	660	634	699	680	664	662	670	677	687	675	692	690	715	680	722	831
Operation and maintenance	1,098	1,093	1,128	1,017	1,094	1,055	1,052	1,067	1,097	1,139	1,094	1,128	1,192	1,196	1,108	1,196	1,536
Student transportation	520	468	488	444	447	498	497	498	529	523	551	536	480	684	634	721	775
Other support services4	414	466	487	454	433	394	392	394	425	395	415	388	392	383	359	378	489
Food services	501	510	506	514	516	429	419	495	497	594	518	613	621	617	557	644	775
Enterprise operations5	18	12	11	14	15	22	22	30	21	12	10	10	18	21	15	17	56
All functions, by district    poverty level6
Low-poverty districts	12,280	10,452	9,103	10,650	11,408	12,503	12,542	12,208	12,085	12,066	12,053	11,616	13,204	13,113	12,953	12,820	16,526
Middle-low–poverty districts	11,542	10,850	10,221	10,571	11,614	11,183	11,128	11,615	11,383	12,510	12,013	12,473	13,095	12,801	11,969	13,168	15,386
Middle-high–poverty districts	11,262	10,678	9,753	11,115	12,048	10,944	10,877	11,146	11,794	12,033	11,571	12,189	12,030	12,446	11,528	12,697	15,126
High-poverty districts	13,101	13,850	14,465	12,513	12,698	11,806	11,734	11,661	12,849	11,880	12,082	11,973	11,674	12,811	11,958	12,597	14,793

1 Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

2 Includes expenditures for guidance, health, attendance, and speech pathology services.

3 Includes expenditures for curriculum development, staff training, libraries, and media and computer centers.

4 Includes business support services concerned with paying, transporting, exchanging, and maintaining goods and services for local education agencies; central support services, including planning, research, evaluation, information, staff, and data processing services; and other support services.

5 Includes expenditures for operations funded by sales of products or services (e.g., school bookstore or computer time).

6 To determine district poverty levels, all public school districts were first ranked by the percentage of their 5- to 17-year-old residents whose families had incomes below the Census Bureau’s poverty threshold (for details about poverty status, see https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html). The districts were then divided into four levels, each containing 25 percent of the total national population of 5- to 17-year-olds. The low-poverty level consists of districts with the lowest percentages of poor 5- to 17-year-olds (9.7 percent or less), while the high-poverty level consists of districts with the highest percentages of poor 5- to 17-year-olds (23.2 percent or more). District poverty levels were determined based on family incomes in unadjusted dollars. Once determined, each district’s poverty level remained unchanged when the data were examined by locale.

7 Data have been adjusted using the American Community Survey-Comparable Wage Index (ACS-CWI). For more information, see https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/titlei/app_b.asp.

NOTE: Excludes expenditures for state education agencies.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," 2015-16; and Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE), "Public District File," 2015-16. U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program, 2015 Poverty Estimates for School Districts. (This table was prepared May 2019.)