Although public schools are usually the biggest item in state and local budgets, spending figures provided by public school officials and reported in the media often leave out major costs of education and thus understate what is actually spent
To document the phenomenon, this paper reviews district budgets and state records for the nation’s five largest metro areas and the District of Columbia. It reveals that, on average, per-pupil spending in these areas is 44 percent higher than officially reported. Real spending per pupil ranges from a low of nearly $12,000 in the Phoenix area schools to a high of nearly $27,000 in the New York metro area. The gap between real and reported per-pupil spending ranges from a low of 23 percent in the Chicago area to a high of 90 percent in the Los Angeles metro region. To put public school spending in perspective, we compare it to estimated total expenditures in local private schools. We find that, in the areas studied, public schools are spending 93 percent more than the estimated median private school. Citizens drastically underestimate current per-student spending and are misled by official figures. Taxpayers cannot make informed decisions about public school funding unless they know how much districts currently spend. And with state budgets stretched thin, it is more crucial than ever to carefully allocate every tax dollar.
Public K–12 education consumes a larger chunk of each state and local taxpayer dollar than any other expense. More than one out of four tax dollars collected goes to the government- run K–12 education system. However, despite the importance of educating children and the huge expense it currently entails, there is a troubling lack of transparency in school budgets. A typical citizen, even a relatively engaged and determined one, will have a difficult time discovering how much his local school district spends to educate each child under its care. Most school districts do not publish readily accessible information on per-pupil spending. And if a taxpayer is lucky enough to find a section on the school district website that states what is spent per child, it is likely that the figure will be misleading in the extreme. We found that real per-pupil spending was on average 44 percent higher than the figure obtained from district publications or personnel. On average, the districts we studied spent nearly $18,000 per student, and yet claimed to spend just $12,500. This disconnect between official accounting and reality raises troubling questions regarding democratic control of public institutions and the ability of citizens to determine whether or not they are getting what they are paying for. Especially during times of economic hardship, we must ensure that every dollar is accounted for and used efficiently