• Highlights
• References

This short report on school district revenues and expenditures is a companion to the state-level E.D. TAB, Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2001-02 (Cohen and Johnson 2004), which presents total state and national spending on public elementary and secondary education. These data were collected and edited between March 2003 and March 2004. These data are final.

Only regular school districts with student counts greater than 0, current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000, and that are on the CCD "Local Education Agency Universe Survey" file were included in this analysis. There were 14,002 such districts in school year 2001-02.

Data on the number of students and districts within each state also show the variation in the organization of education across the country. For example, Florida, with over 2 million students, has 67 school districts, whereas Nebraska, with fewer than 300,000 students, has 524 school districts. The number and size of school districts may affect administrative and other overhead costs.

The District of Columbia is a single urban school district. It is treated separately from the states in the analysis below, because it is often an outlier with larger revenues and expenditures per student than 95 percent of the districts in most states. The District of Columbia did not report any finance data for its charter schools.

The federal range ratio is used in this report as an indicator of the difference between districts with relatively high revenues (or expenditures) per student and districts with relatively low revenues (or expenditures) per student, within the state and the nation. It is the difference between the amount per student of the district at the 95th percentile and the district at the 5th percentile, divided by the amount for the district at the 5th percentile.¹

Revenues per student received by school districts

• In the 2001-02 school year, the median school district received $8,572 per student in revenues from state, local, and federal sources (table 1). The median revenue per student indicates that half of the districts received less than $8,572 per student and half of the districts received more than $8,572 per student.
• Median school district revenues per student among the states ranged from $6,039 in Tennessee to $16,342 in Alaska. Revenues in the District of Columbia were $16,627.
• Ninety percent of the school districts in the country received between $6,208 and $16,286 per student. When school district revenues per student are ranked from highest to lowest, the value for the district at the 5th percentile was $6,208, and the value for the district at the 95th percentile was $16,286. The federal range ratio indicates the difference, or "disparity," between the 5th and 95th percentile. The federal range ratio for total revenues per student was 1.62, indicating that the district at the 95th percentile received 162 percent more revenue per student as the district at the 5th percentile.
• The federal range ratio varied from 0.3 in Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia to 2.7 in Montana. In 25 states the revenues per student were relatively homogeneous, with districts at the 95th percentile reporting less than twice the amount of revenue per student as the district at the 5th percentile; that is, their federal range ratios were under 1.0. On the other hand, the top 5 percent of the districts in four states received revenues per student of more than three times the revenue per student of the districts at the bottom 5 percent; that is, their federal range ratios were greater than 2.0.

• In 2001-02, the median total expenditure by school districts in the nation was $8,424 per student (table 2). This included current operating expenditures, capital outlays (for school construction and equipment), expenditures for programs other than elementary/secondary education (such as adult education and community service programs), interest payments on long-term debt, and payments to state and local governments. Total expenditures do not include payments to other school districts. (Revenues received from other school districts are included in total revenues.)
• Tables 2 and 3 include median expenditures across districts in all states for specific types of expenditures and for the total of these expenditures. The median district in total expenditures is unlikely to be the median district in current expenditures or other types of expenditures. Therefore, the median expenditures for the components (e.g., current, instruction, support services, etc.) do not sum to the median for total expenditures.
• Total expenditures per student ranged between $6,001 and $16,184 for 90 percent of the school districts in the country (i.e., those districts between the 5th and 95th percentiles; table 2). The federal range ratio for total expenditures per student was 1.70, indicating that the district at the 95th percentile spent 170 percent more per student as the district at the 5th percentile. The federal range ratio was slightly less for current expenditures (1.38) and instruction (1.44) and slightly more for support services (1.90).
• Per student spending on capital outlay (for school construction and equipment) in districts with per student expenditures at the 95th percentile was 8,417 percent more than that of districts at the 5th percentile (table 2). Most of the expenditures reported for capital outlay are for school construction. School districts with stable student populations may not need to make large expenditures for school construction, whereas districts experiencing a growing population of children tend to spend more money on school construction. In addition, expenditures for construction do not appear regularly from one year to the next. Districts may build several schools at the same time. This results in a large expenditure for capital outlays one year and small expenditures in subsequent years.
• Per student spending for programs other than elementary/secondary education was approximately 29 times greater in high-spending districts than the national median ($263 vs. $9; table 2). The adult education and community service programs that make up most of the other program spending do not exist in many school districts. At least 5 percent of all school districts do not have programs other than elementary/secondary education, nor do they have interest payments or payments to other government agencies.
• Median total expenditures per student ranged from $5,954 in Mississippi to $16,456 in Alaska (table 3). Total expenditures in the District of Columbia were $16,738. The median total expenditure per student was over $10,000 in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Wyoming.
• Median per student expenditures for instruction (teacher salaries, classroom supplies, etc.) ranged from $3,254 in Mississippi to $8,931 in Alaska (table 3). Among the 10 states with the highest median expenditures per student for instruction, 8 were in the Northeast.²
• Median per student expenditures for capital projects (primarily school construction) ranged from $145 in Vermont to $1,597 in Delaware (table 3) among the 50 states. Capital expenditures per student were $3,198 in the District of Columbia.

Current expenditures per student

Because of the variation in the kinds of programs run by school districts and the large swings in school construction expenditures, researchers often use current rather than total expenditures when reporting and comparing school district expenditures. Current expenditures are expenditures for the day-to-day operations of schools and school districts. They do not include expenditures for construction, equipment, debt financing, and programs outside of public elementary/secondary education.

• The median current expenditure per student for the nation was $7,294 (table 4).
• Per student spending in districts at the 95th percentile was more than 138 percent more than per student spending in districts at the 5th percentile (i.e., the federal range ratio was 1.38). Spending in districts at the 95th percentile was less than 50 percent higher than spending in districts at the 5th percentile in 13 states (i.e., the federal range ratio was less than 0.50).
• The median current expenditure per student in Alaska ($14,549) and the District of Columbia ($13,330) was larger than the current expenditure per student in 95 percent of all districts in the nation (in other words, greater than $13,026).
• The three states with the highest federal range ratio in current expenditures per student were Alaska, Montana, and Nevada. Expenditures per student were more than three times greater in the district at the 95th percentile than the district at the 5th percentile in these states (i.e., their federal range ratio was greater than 2.0). The ratio was lowest in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. In the five lowest states, current expenditures per student at the 95th percentile were less than 35 percent greater than spending at the 5th percentile.

Independent charter schools are public schools that are exempted from significant state or local rules that normally govern the operation and management of public schools. A charter school may be affiliated with a regular school district, a university, or a private organization. In order to include all charter schools in its files, NCES created a separate school district record for each charter school (or charter school organization) that is not affiliated with a school district. In this report, data for charter schools that are associated with regular school districts are included with the data reported for the entire school district, and the data for those schools and the affiliated districts are indistinguishable from districts that do not have charter schools.

Data for independent charter schools that are not affiliated with a regular school district were included in this report if they could be matched to the CCD "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," if they had a student membership count greater than 0, and if they had both total revenues and total expenditures greater than 0. Data for independent charter school districts are reported at the bottom of each table in this report and are not included in the national totals or averages. Certain charter school districts in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas fell into this category. These data are kept separate because in many cases the data are not complete or fail to meet NCES editing standards. This is to be expected if the districts are not required to report finance data to a district or other local government agency. In some cases a charter school district may operate more than one charter school.

• The median revenue per student for independent charter schools (not affiliated with a public school district) was $7,283 (table 1). The median revenue for 90 percent of these districts ranged from $3,876 to $13,894.
• The median total expenditure per student for independent charter schools was $7,066 (table 2).
• Current expenditures per student in charter schools ranged from $3,952 to $12,133 for 90 percent of the charter school districts.

District-level analyses and comparisons can be complicated by the variety of administrative structures that exist across the nation in regular school districts. States such as Florida, Maryland, Nevada, and West Virginia have large districts that are coterminous with counties and encompass all levels and types of public schools. School districts in other states may exist in small communities with only one school, or in larger communities where all elementary schools are in one school district and all secondary schools are in another. In some states, all special education schools are administered by a few specific districts; in other states, each district may have all kinds of different schools and programs.³ This variety in the types of school districts makes comparison of expenditures among school districts difficult.

The information presented in tables 1 through 4 is based on all regular education school districts reporting student counts that are reported on the CCD "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," regardless of grades served. table 5 presents current expenditures per student in regular unified districts only. Unified districts are school districts with both elementary and secondary education programs.

In nine states, fewer than half of the school districts were unified (Arizona, California, Illinois, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont). In two states, Montana and Vermont, fewer than half of the students attended schools in unified districts. The federal range ratio was reduced from 1.38 to 1.17 when only unified school districts were analyzed.

• Unified school districts serve students in all grades. The median current expenditure for unified school districts in the nation was $7,157 per student, with 90 percent of all districts ranging between $5,505 and $11,931 (table 5). The federal range ratio was 1.17, indicating a slight reduction in variation of per student spending compared with all regular school districts (1.38) reported in table 4.

Berne, R., and Stiefel, L. (1984). The Measurement of Equity in School Finance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Cohen, C., and Johnson, F. (2004). Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education School Year 2001-02 (NCES 2004-341). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004341.pdf.

Hussar, W., and Sonnenberg, W. (2000). Trends in Disparities in School District Level Expenditures per Pupil (NCES 2000-020). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Parrish, T.B., Matsumoto, C.S., and Fowler, W.J., Jr. (1995). Disparities in Public School District Spending 1989–90 (NCES 95-300). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

¹Comparisons using the federal range ratio exclude the top and bottom 5 percent of districts, and reduce the influence of extreme cases. The federal range ratio conveys an idea of the magnitude of differences between districts with relatively high revenues or expenditures per student and districts with relatively low revenues or expenditures per student, after excluding extremes. The federal range ratio has been used by Berne and Stiefel (1984); Parrish, Matsumoto, and Fowler (1995); and Hussar and Sonnenberg (2000).

²These states are New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Delaware. Instruction expenditures per student in the District of Columbia were higher than any state's median per student instruction expenditures, except in Alaska and New York.

³Special education districts were not included in regular districts.

Table 1. Revenues per student for public elementary and secondary school districts, by state: School year 2001–02

¹The federal range ratio indicates the difference between the district at the 5th percentile and the 95th percentile (when districts are ranked by revenues per student within the state) as a ratio of the value to revenues per student for the district at the 5th percentile.

²The District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of one school district each.

NOTE: National figures do not include independent charter school districts, i.e., those not affiliated with a non-charter school district. Charter schools that are affiliated with regular school districts are included in the national and state figures. Only regular school districts matching the Common Core of Data (CCD) Agency Universe and with student membership > 0 were used in creating the national and state figures. Regular school districts with current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000 were included in the national and state figures; 99.87 percent of the school districts met this criterion. Charter school districts with revenues > 0 or expenditures > 0 were included in the charter school analysis; 99.79 percent of charter school districts met this criterion. It is assumed that some charter school districts did not report all revenues.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” FY 2002, version 1a.

Table 2. Expenditures per student for elementary and secondary education, by type of expenditure for regular districts and for independent charter school districts: School year 2001–02

¹The federal range ratio indicates the difference between the district at the 5th percentile and the 95th percentile (when districts are ranked by expenditures per student within the state) as a ratio of the value to expenditures per student for the district at the 5th percentile.

²Total expenditures do not include payments to other school districts.

NOTE: National figures do not include independent charter school districts, i.e., those not affiliated with a non-charter school district. Charter schools that are affiliated with regular school districts are included in the national and state figures. Only regular school districts matching the Common Core of Data (CCD) Agency Universe and with student membership > 0 were used in creating the national and state figures. Regular school districts with current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000 were included in the national and state figures; 99.87 percent of the school districts met this criterion. Charter school districts with revenues > 0 or expenditures > 0 were included in the charter school analysis; 99.79 percent of charter school districts met this criterion. The District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of one school district each. Other programs include community services, adult education, and community colleges.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” FY 2002, version 1a.

Table 3. School district expenditures per student, by type of expenditure and state: School year 2001–02

²Current expenditures includes instruction, support services, and non-instruction services.

³Other programs include community services, adult education, and community colleges.

⁴The District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of only one school district each.

NOTE: National figures do not include independent charter school districts, i.e., those not affiliated with a non-charter school district. Charter schools that are affiliated with regular school districts are included in the national and state figures. Only school districts matching the Common Core of Data (CCD) Agency Universe and with student membership > 0 were used in creating this table. Districts with current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000 were included in the national and state figures; 99.87 percent of the school districts met this criterion. Charter schools with revenues > 0 and expenditures > 0 were included in the charter school analysis; 99.79 percent of the charter school districts met this criterion. This table reports the median school district expenditure for each category; therefore, totals do not equal the sum of the detail.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” FY 2002, version 1a.

Table 4. Current expenditures per student for public elementary and secondary school districts, by state: School year 2001–02

¹The federal range ratio indicates the difference between the district at the 5th percentile and the 95th percentile (when districts are ranked by expenditures per student within the state) as a ratio of the value to expenditures per student for the district at the 5th percentile.

²The District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of one school district each.

NOTE: National figures do not include independent charter school districts, i.e., those not affiliated with a non-charter school district. Charter schools that are affiliated with regular school districts are included in the national and state figures. Only regular school districts matching the Common Core of Data (CCD) Agency Universe and with student membership > 0 were used in creating this table. Districts with current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000 per student were included in the national and state figures; 98.87 percent of school districts met this criterion. Charter schools with revenues > 0 and expenditures > 0 were included in the charter school analysis; 99.79 percent of the charter school districts met this criterion.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” FY 2002, version 1a.

Table 5. Current expenditures per student for unified school districts, by state: School year 2001–02

¹The federal range ratio indicates the difference between the district at the 5th percentile and the 95th percentile (when districts are ranked by expenditures per student within the state) as a ratio of the value to expenditures per student for the district at the 5th percentile.

²The District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of one school district each.

NOTE: National figures do not include independent charter school districts, i.e., those not affiliated with a non-charter school district. Charter schools that are affiliated with regular school districts are included in the national and state figures. Only regular school districts matching the Common Core of Data (CCD) Agency Universe and with student membership > 0 were used in creating this table. Districts with current expenditures per student between $2,500 and $35,000 per student were included in the national and state figures; 98.87 percent of school districts met this criterion. Charter schools with revenues > 0 and expenditures > 0 were included in the charter school analysis; 99.79 percent of the charter school districts met this criterion.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” FY 2002, version 1a.