Show Me the (Education) Money, Part III!

With“Red for Ed” walkouts continuing in Arizona, and ongoing discussion about how well public K-12 schooling has been funded nationwide, here ’s part three of our impromptu series on spending. As promised last week, this post presents the total spending charts for the five states that have been most in the news over funding: Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. Please see thepreviousposts for discussions of national spending levels and data sources. The data here are total, inflation-adjusted, per-pupil expenditures on public elementary and secondary schools.ArizonaThings are looking down in AZ, though with a similar pattern to the nation overall: Spending generally rising before the Great Recession —total expenditures peaked in 07-08 at $11,141—then dropping afterwards. Unlike much of the nation, however, for the entire period total spending in Arizona fell, from $9,837 per pupil to $8,697. And it has a somewhat pronounced spending valley before the recession.Where were the cuts? While all of the various types of support services saw increases for the overall period —and some saw increases even after the recession—instructional spending, which most people would probably consider the nucleus of what schools do, fell 6 percent for the full period, or $281 per student. The biggest loser was capital outlays, which dropped 58 percent for the period, or by nearly $1,300.ColoradoAgain we see the pattern of overall spending peaking in 07-08, then f...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs