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School per-pupil spending up every year since late 1990s
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Wisconsin public schools budgeted to spend $11,981 per student in 2008-09, or 5.1 percent more than the $11,399 per pupil spent in 2007-08.
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Since 1998-99, per-student spending has risen an average of 4 percent per year. In 2008-09, total school spending topped $10 billion for the first time.
These and other facts about Wisconsin's public schools are from the newly released SchoolFacts09, an annual publication of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
The report provides information on spending, revenue, enrollment, staffing and test scores for every school district in the state.
While total per-pupil expenditures increased 5.1 percent, those on administration and on pupil services both rose 6 percent over the year. Expenditures for direct instruction were up 5.4 percent.
Several areas rose less, including instructional support (4.6 percent), transportation (4.2 percent), and building and grounds (1.5 percent). Spending on capital improvements and debt service was up 2.6 percent in 2008-09. School property taxes climbed 5.2 percent from the prior year, largely due to a small increase in state school aids.
Under state-imposed revenue limits, school levies are tied to state general aids. Limited growth in state aid leads to above-average increases in school taxes. State general aids rose 1.7 percent in 2008-09, continuing a trend of slow-growing aids since 2003-04, WISTAX said.
From 2003-04 through 2008-09, school general aids rose less than 2.5 percent in five of the six years. The exception was in 2005-06, when they were up 6.9 percent, resulting in a half-percent drop in school taxes.
SchoolFacts09 also finds that statewide school enrollments declined for the sixth consecutive year. At 861,100, full-time equivalent enrollments were down 1.5 percent from their 2002-03 peak of 874,042. Since 1998-99, statewide school enrollments are off 0.8 percent.
According to WISTAX, of 420 school districts that had not combined or split since 1998-99, 64.6 percent had fewer students in 2008-09 than 10 years earlier. In addition to information on school finances and students counts, SchoolFacts09 provides figures on district demography, test scores and staffing.
Researchers noted the percentage of students identified as disabled declined for the third consecutive year. A total of 14.3 percent of students were so identified, down 0.2 percentage points from the prior year and 0.5 points from 2005-06. More than one-third (35.1 percent) of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch (one indicator of poverty in a district) in 2008-09, up from 25 percent in 1999-2000.
The report is the state's most complete published collection of Wisconsin school district data. The 64-page book contains school district information on student characteristics, test scores, revenues, spending, staffing, and much more. The report also contains summary data by cooperative educational service agency and by district size.
Supplemental reports by athletic conference, or for a customized group of districts, can be ordered.
To order, write the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, 401 North Lawn Ave., Madison, WI 53704, call (608) 241-9789, or visit www.wistax.org. Cost is $29.95, plus tax.
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©The Chetek Alert 2010
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