A Bit of Education Accounting

The U.S. Census Bureau just released Public Education Finances, 2005, and news stories are focusing on a national per‐​pupil expenditure average of $8,701, as well as state highs of $14,119 in New York and $13,800 in New Jersey.


Unfortunately, some major items such as capital costs are left out of these expenditure figures, so they understate pretty significantly total amounts spent on public education. Thankfully, the census folks also offer per‐​pupil “finance amounts” (they’re on table 11 of the report for those playing along at home) that are much more inclusive than the constrained “current spending” figures (table 8 ) cited in the media.


Using these more comprehensive stats, we see that in the 2004-05 academic year public school systems nationwide had average per‐​pupil revenue of $10,159, and the top spenders shifted a bit. Washington, D.C., took the first place position with a per‐​pupil haul of $17,809, New Jersey came in second at $16,213, and New York dropped all the way to third place at $15,791.


Poor New York. How can they possibly expect to educate anyone on that kind of money?