by Vivian Jones
State and local governments in Tennessee spend on average a little more than $9,600 for each student in public school, according to a report by the Tennessee comptroller’s office, but per-pupil spending varies widely based on the type of school district and the population it serves.
School-level data reporting on per-student spending is available to the public this week for the first time. An interactive map and dashboard displays data from across the state. The comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability created the resources in response to a federal law that requires states to report school-level data on per-student spending.
Data in the dashboard and interactive map cannot compare how districts spend in relationship with each other. This is intentional, according to the comptroller’s report, because Tennessee’s school districts vary greatly in size and student demographics.
For example, while Tennessee’s largest school district, Shelby County Public Schools, has 202 schools serving more than 100,000 students, there are seven districts in the state that have only one school.
Districts’ per-student spending varies not only on how many students are enrolled but also in the resources they have available.
“The revenue sources available to school districts and the way they distribute funds to schools can also vary – urban school districts can raise more local revenue for education than smaller rural districts,” the report reads. “The total amount of funds spent at an urban school with a large population of poor students is not an even comparison to a small rural school with a less diverse student population.”
The comptroller’s online tools report average spending amounts from the 2018-19 school year from both state and district level sources. No private money is included in the data.
Tennessee’s six largest school districts spend on average between $9,000 and $12,750 per student. Shelby County spends on average nearly $11,800 per student.
Franklin Special School District reported the highest per-pupil spending, averaging $15,557 per student.
Within a district, per-pupil spending by school varies tremendously based on the type of population each school serves.
For example, the six schools in Metro Nashville with the highest per-student spending all serve special populations of students. While the schools spend less than the average school in the district, they serve fewer students, ratcheting up the per-pupil cost.
While Metro Nashville schools spend on average just over $12,750 per pupil per year, these six range between $34,000 to nearly $70,000 per pupil.
Averages vary based on the school district’s type. Countywide districts typically serve far more schools with much higher enrollment but spend less per student. County districts spend an average of nearly $9,500 per student and average 16 schools with enrollments of nearly 9,000.
On the other hand, municipal school districts spend more per student with lower enrollment numbers and significantly fewer schools. On average, municipal school districts include five schools, with enrollment of just over 3,000. Per-pupil spending averages about $10,000.
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Vivian Jones is a contributor to The Center Square.
I can just see the liberals now planning on using this statistic in an attempt to take over the education system in TN. Please let me relate what happened in Vermont.
Individual towns were responsible for a large part of their educational funding. The wealthy towns were said to have better schools than the more rural towns. So in an attempt to see that all pupils received the same educational opportunities the liberal democrats that completely control the state government decided to tie educational funding to property tax. Let me also point out that the NEA and the entrenched teachers unions have the state legislators by the short hairs and are one of the most powerful NGOs in the State of Vermont. The Education pension funds that the State is saddled with are mostly unfunded and are the largest financial burden on the State. Vermont has one of the lowest pupil to teacher ratios in the nation. But not to worry, bumbling Joe Biden just bailed them out with the phony virus relief legislation.
Back to the property tax funding. So now that educational funding was tied to property tax, the government had to grow itself even bigger to handle the administration. As time went by as the number of students continually dropped, property taxes continued to increase because of the educational funding tie in. No one could seem to explain why this was occurring. In addition second home owners, who the State perceived as very wealthy, were taxed at an even higher rate than VT citizens.
Liberals and teachers unions need to be kept as far away as possible from the education of the youth of America. Otherwise our children will grow up to be little Marxist ecotopians. The public education system needs to be gutted, and rebuilt without unionized teachers and the socialist influences from the left.
Sure is a poor return on investment. If public education was a business it would have been shutdown years ago.
We can educate our own children at home for next to nothing AND provide a much better education. Homeschooling is proven to provide a better education in 4 hours per day and with very little cost. In the end your kids will be happier, healthier both physically and mentally and they will truly educated and know how to think and reason. Of course THEY do not want kids who can do math THEY want kids that think and behave the way THEY prescribe. Public education is no longer about education. It is now all about indoctrination. If you want educated, healthy, happy kids and more functional family get your kids out of the public school system. This is an option for every family even single parent families. If you really want it to work you will find a way, if not you will find an excuse.
Eliminate state and federal mandates at the local level and watch the quality of education improve and the cost plummet. Of course if you even suggest that to the academic community they would lose their collective minds.