NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

Statistical Analysis Report February 1995

Thomas B. Parrish

Christine S. Matsumoto

American Institutes for Research

William J. Fowler, Jr.

National Center for Education Statistics

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement NCES 95-300

U.S. Department of Education

Richard W. Riley

Secretary

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Sharon P. Robinson

Assistant Secretary

National Center for Education Statistics

Emerson J. Elliott

Commissioner

Elementary/Secondary Education Statistics Division

Paul D. Planchon

Associate Commissioner

National Center for Education Statistics

“The purpose of the Center shall be to collect, analyze, and disseminate

statistics and other data related to education in the United States and in

other nations.”-Section 406(b) of the General Education Provisions Act,

as amended (20 U.S.C. 1221e-1).

January 1995

For more information contact:

William J. Fowler, Jr.

(202) 219-1921

_______________________________________________________________

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328

ISBN 0-16-045407-7
Foreword

This study represents the first that has combined an existing National Center for

Education Statistics (NCES) database with the new 1990 Census demographic data mapped by

NCES to school district boundaries. In this case, school district revenues and expenditures are

compared by such school district characteristics as median income, median housing value,

education attainment of householders, urbanicity, district size, and grade-level organization, and

such student demographic variables as percentage in poverty, special education, limited English

proficient, at-risk, and minority enrollment.

The study presents not only the actual revenues and expenditures, and those resources

adjusted for geographic cost-of-living differences, but also resources adjusted for variations in

school districts’ student need. The rationale is that not only are geographic adjustments to

expenditures and income necessary to achieve comparable purchasing power, but also that

school districts with certain types of students, such as students with physical disabilities,

students in poverty, or students who are limited English proficient, will encounter higher costs

in educating those students. In part, this is because students with physical disabilities and

students in poverty have federally sponsored supplemental instruction programs with additional

teaching staff, and students who are limited English proficient require assistance in learning

English and are instructed in their native language.

This research makes comparisons of the resources of school districts by their

characteristics, measures the degree of variation in resources across districts, and makes

comparisons of the spending on one characteristic, while holding all of the other characteristics

constant. NCES believes that this is the first national study to carefully examine school district

spending by community and student characteristics, adjusting for geographic cost differences,

i
and using multiple regression to control for the simultaneous influence of more than a single

school district characteristic. The authors present the findings both with and without the

adjustments and statistical techniques so the readers can choose to examine the results

according to their analytical preferences.

The Research and Development (R & D) series of reports has been initiated:

1) To share studies and research that are developmental in nature. The results of

such studies may be revised as the work continues and additional data become

available.

2) To share the results of studies that are, to some extent, on the “cutting-edge” of

methodological developments. Emerging analytical approaches and new

computer software development often permit new, and sometimes controversial,

analysis to be done. By participating in “frontier research,” we hope to

contribute to the resolution of issues and improved analysis.

3) To participate in discussions of emerging issues of interest to education

researchers, statisticians, and the federal statistical community in general. Such

reports may document workshops and symposiums sponsored by NCES that

address methodological and analytic issues or may share and discuss issues

regarding NCES practice, procedures, and standards.

The common theme in all three goals is that these reports present results or discussions

that do not reach definitive conclusions at this point in time, either because the data are

tentative, the methodology is new and developing, or the topic is one on which there are

ii
divergent views. Therefore, the techniques and inferences made from the data are tentative and

are subject to revision. To facilitate the process of closure on the issues, we invite comment,

criticism, and alternatives to what we have done. Such responses should be directed to:

Susan W. Ahmed

Acting Associate Commissioner

Statistical Standards and Methodology

Division

National Center for EducationStatistics

555 New Jersey Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20208-5654

iii
Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all those who contributed to the production of this report. 

Among American Institutes for Research staff, special mention goes to Donald McLaughlin and

Jay Chambers for guidance, advice, and review; and Mary Anne Arcilla for statistical and

technical support. We would also like to thank Min Yuan for computer programming; Thuy

Dao for assistance in table construction; and Shannon Daugherty for editing the many drafts of

the report.

We are also very grateful for the guidance and technical expertise of Lawrence

McDonald, the Governments Division Branch Chief of the Bureau of the Census. In addition,

we would like to thank Michael O’Leary and his staff for sharing information acquired through

a concurrent fiscal study conducted by Jay Moskowitz of Pelavin Associates for the U.S.

Department of Education.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the comments and suggestions of the reviewers:

Lee Hoffman, Paul Planchon, and Marilyn McMillen of the Elementary and Secondary

Education Statistics Division; Robert Burton of the Statistical Standards and Methodology

Division; John Burkett and Thomas Smith of the Data Development Division; Stephanie

Stullich of the Planning and Evaluation Services; Phil Kearney of the University of Michigan;

David Monk of Cornell University; and Wayne Riddle of Congressional Research Service. 

iv
Table of Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

List of Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Purpose of This Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Data Sources and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Resource measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

District and community variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Resource adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

How Do Education Resource Measures, Such as Total Expenditures Per Student,

Vary in Different Types of School Districts and Communities Across the Nation? 11

Summary of findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Detailed findings by district characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Detailed findings by community characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

How Do School Districts Serving Different Types of Students and Communities

Allocate Resources Across the Categories of Instruction, Administration, and

Capital Outlay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Summary of findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Detailed findings by district characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Detailed findings by community characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

How Do Local, State, and Federal Revenues Vary for School Districts Serving

Different Types of Students and Communities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Summary of findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Detailed findings by district characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Detailed findings by community characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

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To What Extent Do Education Resource Measures Vary Across the Nation? . . . . . . 80

Summary of findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Detailed findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Summary of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

How do education resource measures, such as total expenditures per student, vary in

different types of school districts and communities across the nation? . . . . . . . . 85

How do school districts serving different types of students and communities allocate

resources across the categories of instruction, administration, and capital outlay? 85

How do local, state, and federal revenues vary for school districts serving different

types of students and communities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

To what extent do education resource measures vary across the nation? . . . . . . . . . 86

Implications for Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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List of Tables

Table A.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Table 1.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of minority enrollment . . . . . . 15

Table 2.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of school-age children in

poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Table 3.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of special education students . . 19

Table 4.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of limited English proficient

children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table 5.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of school-age at-risk

children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Table 6.-- Total expenditures per student by district enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Table 7.-- Total expenditures per student by district type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Table 8.-- Total expenditures per student by metropolitan status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Table 9.-- Total expenditures per student by geographic region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Table 10.-- Total expenditures per student by education attainment of householders . . . . 30

Table 11.-- Total expenditures per student by median value owner-occupied housing . . . 32

Table 12.-- Total expenditures per student by median household income (costadjusted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Table 13.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of

minority enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Table 14.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Table 15.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by

percentage of school-age children in poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Table 16.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of school-age children in poverty . . . . . 42

Table 17.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of

limited English proficient children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Table 18.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of limited English proficient children . . 44

Table 19.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of

school-age at-risk children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Table 20.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by district

enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Table 21.-- Student/teacher ratios by district enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

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Table 22.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by district type . . . . 49

Table 23.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by metropolitan

status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Table 24.-- Student/teacher ratios by metropolitan status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Table 25.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by geographic

region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Table 26.-- Student/teacher ratios by geographic region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Table 27.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by median

household income (cost-adjusted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Table 28.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by median value

owner-occupied housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Table 29.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by education

attainment of householders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Table 30.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted local, local and state, and

total revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Table 31.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted total, current operating,

and core instructional expenditures, and student/teacher ratios . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Table 32.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted total expenditures and

wealth measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

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List of Figures

Figure 1.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

minority enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figure 2.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

school-age children in poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Figure 3.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

special education students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Figure 4.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

limited English proficient children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 5.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

school-age at-risk children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Figure 6.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by district enrollment . . . 24

Figure 7.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by district type . . . . . . . . 26

Figure 8.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by metropolitan status . . . 28

Figure 9.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by geographic region . . . . 29

Figure 10.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by education attainment

of householders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Figure 11.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by median value

owner-occupied housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Figure 12.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by median household

income (cost-adjusted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Figure 13.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority

enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Figure 14.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of school-age

children in poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Figure 15.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of limited

English proficient children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Figure 16.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by district enrollment . . . . . . . . . 48

Figure 17.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by metropolitan status . . . . . . . . . 51

Figure 18.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by geographic region . . . . . . . . . 53

Figure 19.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by percentage of

minority enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 20.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of minority

enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Figure 21.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by percentages of schoolage children in poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

ix
Figure 22.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of school-age

children in poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Figure 23.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by percentage of special

education students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Figure 24.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of special

education students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Figure 25.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by percentage of limited

English proficient children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Figure 26.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of limited English

proficient children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Figure 27.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by percentage of school-age

at-risk children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Figure 28.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of school-age atrisk children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Figure 29.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by metropolitan status . . . . . . 70

Figure 30.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by metropolitan status . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 31.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by geographic region . . . . . . . 72

Figure 32.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by geographic region . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Figure 33.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by median household

income (cost-adjusted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Figure 34.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by median household income

(cost-adjusted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Figure 35.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by median value owneroccupied housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Figure 36.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by median value owner-occupied

housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Figure 37.-- Local, state, and federal revenues per student by education attainment of

householders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Figure 38.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by education attainment of

householders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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List of Appendices

Appendix A. Bivariate, Dispersion, and Multivariate Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1

Appendix B. Standard Deviations for Bivariate Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1

Appendix C. Number of Districts in Each Characteristic Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1

Appendix D. Technical Notes on Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-1

Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-2

Selection of Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-2

Procedures for Calculating State Payments

Made on Behalf of School Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-3

Imputation Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-5

Construction of Key Revenue and

Expenditure Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-7

Resource-Cost Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-10

Student-Need Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-14

Dispersion Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-15

Categorization Breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-19

Standard Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-19

Multivariate Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-19

Appendix E. Definitions of Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-1

xi
xii
Executive Summary

The Purpose of This Report

Finance issues are among the most fundamental to public education. Questions relating

to “who pays,” “how much,” and “for whom” are central to the concepts of equity and

adequacy, which have long been at the heart of public education fiscal policy. Equity issues

focus on the fairness of the overall public education allocation system. Given our decentralized

system of public education, it is not surprising that more public dollars are spent on the

education of some school children as opposed to others. These differences may not be

undesirable or unwarranted. Given the variations in the cost of education resources and in the

needs of students that are known to exist across districts, equal dollars per student may not

result in equal education opportunities. Thus, a major fiscal policy question is: Where do

expenditure differences occur and to what degree? If expenditure differences are simply related

to the differing capacities of states and localities to purchase public education services, at what

point do these differences result in inequities for different types of students? These expenditure

differentials are especially of interest as they relate to children in particular categories of

historical concern, such as minority status, poverty, and other at-risk factors. 

To the extent that these types of questions pertain to unequal allocations of public

education resources to students with comparable education needs, they are considered to be

horizontal equity issues. Vertical equity relates to expenditure differences justified by the

differing education needs of students. For example, all public education funding formulas

allocate different amounts of revenue to districts to account for the differing education needs of

some types of students (e.g., special education). Vertical equity questions relate to which kinds

of students should be eligible for additional aid and the appropriate size for these supplements. 

Both of these sets of equity issues closely relate to the adequacy of education revenues. Are

they sufficient for their intended purpose? As the exact purposes of education are not fully

agreed upon and the technology of education is not well understood, objective determinations

of whether given amounts of education resources are sufficient for their intended purpose

generally cannot be made. For this reason, adequacy issues are most often expressed in terms

xiii
that are relative to some specific standard, and all of these traditional fiscal policy issues revert

to basic questions about who is receiving how much and for what purpose.

This report begins to answer these and other important school finance questions in ways

that have not been previously reported. Measures of how much districts receive in public funds

from local, state, and federal governments and how these resources are used to provide public

education services are available for all of the school districts in the country, and these measures

are matched to such important district characteristics as the percentage of children living in

poverty, the percentage of minority children, and average wealth. Through the use of resource

cost factors, alternative measures of district spending are expressed in terms of relative “buying

power,” and through the use of student-need adjustments, variations in the number of students

with additional education requirements are also taken into account. Multivariate, as well as

bivariate, analyses are used to isolate the impact of individual district and community factors on

variations in expenditure. In addition to these adjusted forms, all of the resource measures

included in this report are presented in their original (unadjusted) form for comparative

purposes. 

As an example, table A has been extracted from the main body of the report to illustrate

the differing results that can be obtained through the use of bivariate and multivariate analyses. 

These data show that while the bivariate results indicate a positive relationship between

student/teacher ratios and the percentage of minority enrollment, the multivariate data indicate

the exact opposite relationship between these variables (columns 1 and 3). This difference

results from the fact that while the bivariate results show the direct relationship between these

two variables, the multivariate analyses also take simultaneously into account the effects of a

number of variables believed to be relevant to variations in student/teacher ratios. Thus, while

the bivariate analysis suggests a positive relationship between these two variables, the

multivariate analysis indicates that this result is really an artifact of the relationship between the

percentage of minority students and other related variables, such as the percentage of students

in poverty and district urbanicity. Using the multivariate analysis, in which the relationship

between all of these related variables and student/teacher ratios are considered simultaneously,

xiv
the relationship between percentage minority enrollments and student/teacher ratios becomes

negative. 

This example illustrates the importance of adding multivariate analyses to gain a fuller

understanding of the relationships among the variables presented in this report. The general

trends documented in this report primarily focus on the resource-cost and student-need-adjusted

multivariate (fully adjusted) results. Although multivariate results are emphasized, the report

notes when these general trends differ substantially from the actual bivariate results.

Table A.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority enrollment

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Minority Enrollment

 Less than 5% 21.9 17.0 19.1 18.7 21.5

 5% - <20% 26.5 17.8 20.2 18.0 20.7

 20% - <50% 25.7 18.2 21.0 17.7 20.4

 50% or more 25.9 18.7 22.2 17.5 20.3

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data,

1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

Data Sources and Procedures

This report addresses school finance policy issues through the analysis of school district

revenue and expenditure data from the 1990 Survey of Local Government Finances—School

Systems (F-33) collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as the collection request for the

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To increase the policy relevance of these

analyses, these fiscal data were matched to other NCES databases that provide more descriptive

information about the districts and the communities in which they are located.

Three types of procedures were used to analyze these data:

xv
Comparisons of the actual and resource-cost and student-need-adjusted amounts

of education resources received by different types of school districts and

communities (bivariate analysis).

Comparisons of the actual and resource-cost and student-need-adjusted amounts

of education resources received by different types of school districts and

communities, holding other factors constant (multivariate analysis).

Measures of the degree of variation in resource quantities across districts

(dispersion analysis).

Policy Questions

Four important policy questions that relate to the financing of public education are

addressed in this report.

How do education resource measures, such as total expenditures per student,

vary in different types of school districts and communities across the nation?

How do school districts serving different types of students and communities

allocate resources across the categories of instruction, administration, and capital

outlay? 

How do local, state, and federal revenues vary for school districts serving

different types of students and communities? 

To what extent do education resource measures vary across the nation?

The first question is addressed by examining alternative measures of school district

spending and the relationships of these measures to such district and community characteristics

as the percentage of students in poverty, the percentage of minority students, and average

xvi
property wealth in the district. Addressing the second question involves breaking out aggregate

expenditure measures into the more detailed categories of instruction, administration, and

capital outlay. To address the third question, revenues are examined to assess varying reliance

on local, state, and federal sources to support education services in different types of districts. 

The final question represents a departure from the basic approach used for questions one

through three. The section of this report that addresses this question considers all of the school

districts across the nation to assess total disparity in resource measures such as total

expenditures. 

Summary of Findings

How do education resource measures, such as total expenditures per student, vary in

different types of school districts and communities across the nation?

Of all the variables included in this report, the largest variations in average

public education expenditures occur between regions. Fully adjusted

expenditures per student are substantially higher in the northeastern region of the

country and are lowest in the West ($5,293 versus $3,632).

Public education expenditures per student are higher in the nation’s smallest

districts whereas students receive an average fully adjusted expenditure of $4,862

versus $4,216 in the largest districts (10,000 students and above).

Greater education expenditures per student are associated with higher community

socioeconomic status as measured by the value of owner-occupied housing

($4,401 versus $3,992, fully adjusted), or by education attainment ($4,515 versus

$3,953, fully adjusted). However, this relationship is less pronounced when

socioeconomic status is defined in terms of median household income. When

the relationship between this variable and education expenditures is considered in

isolation, only the wealthiest group is considerably different from the other

groups.

xvii
More money is spent in districts with the highest percentages of minority

students compared to districts with the lowest percentages of minority students

($4,514 versus $3,920). Although minority students in poverty are often viewed

as those least served by current systems of public education funding, these

findings suggest that while inequalities may remain for students in poverty, they

do not appear to be driven by minority status.

Public education expenditures per student are highest in low poverty districts. 

The fully adjusted differential between the highest and lowest poverty districts is

$309 per student ($4,219 versus $4,528). However, this relationship is not linear

and affects only the 11 percent of students in the wealthiest districts. Among the

other 89 percent of students, the variation is only $8 per student.1

Districts with the highest percentages of students in special education show

higher overall actual expenditures than do districts with the lowest percentages of

special education students ($5,447 versus $5,061). However, when differences in

the cost of living and the added cost of serving students with supplemental needs

are included, an opposite expenditure pattern is observed ($4,219 versus $4,510).

 

How do school districts serving different types of students and communities allocate

resources across the categories of instruction, administration, and capital outlay? 

Student/teacher ratios vary substantially by district size and region of the

country. In both actual and adjusted terms, the average ratio is over 20 percent

 

 

1

These findings differ from earlier analyses of the relationship between education expenditures and

poverty conducted by Schwartz and Moskowitz (1988). Their state-by-state analyses reported three states with

negative correlations, 14 states near zero, and 33 states with a positive relationship between these two

variables. To further test our findings, which are based on more current data and evaluate this relationship

on a national basis, we ran analyses dividing the districts into exact poverty quartiles. We also ran a straight

correlation between the various measures of education spending used in this report and the percentage of

school-age children in poverty. In each case we found a negative relationship between spending and poverty. 

Further analyses would be required to determine whether these contradictory findings represent a change over

time (the Schwartz and Moskowitz poverty data are from 1979, while the data used in this report are from the

1990 census) or represent differences in the unit of analysis or in the methodological approach.

xviii
larger in the nation’s largest districts (10,000 students or more) as opposed to the

smallest (less than 1,000 students).2 In actual terms, the average student/teacher

ratio in the smallest districts is 15.1 as compared to 18.8 in the largest districts. 

These differences are even more pronounced by geographic region of the

country, with the Northeast showing an average student/teacher ratio of 15.6 as

compared to 21.9 for the West. The Midwest and South show average

student/teacher ratios falling between these two values, at 17.3 and 17.1,

respectively.

[Note: The following expenditure results were obtained only through bivariate analysis and do

not control for other district characteristics. As such, they should be interpreted with greater

caution than the results obtained through multivariate analysis.]

Districts serving relatively high percentages of students in poverty, minority

students, or limited English proficient (LEP) students allocate greater percentages

of their funds to core instructional purposes than do districts serving lower

percentages of students in these same groups. 

Capital outlay is the area of expenditure found to be the most sensitive to

variations in total district spending compared to the categories of instruction and

administration.3 Districts with less to spend tend to focus on direct instruction

and administration at the expense of capital expenditures.

By region, districts in the northeastern section of the country spend more in the

area of administration and support than the other regions (the Midwest, the

 

 

2

Student/teacher ratios are only adjusted for student-need variations. Because this resource is expressed in

actual rather than dollar terms, resource-cost adjustments are inappropriate for this measure.

 

3

For the purposes of this study, capital outlay includes land purchases, building repair and construction,

and expenditures on equipment. In subsequent analyses these categories of capital expenditure might be

analyzed in more detail. It should also be noted that these analyses report actual expenditures. While

annualized costs are generally considered more appropriate in analyses of capital items, these cost data were

not available. 

xix
South, and the West), and districts in the West spend appreciably less ($1,371

versus $831 per student).

How do local, state, and federal revenues vary for school districts serving different types

of students and communities? 

The amount of local support for public education rises with the wealth and

socioeconomic condition of the community.

State funds are the primary equalizing force in public education resource

allocations. 

Although state and federal allocations are larger in districts with large numbers

of special, compensatory, and LEP students, based on the student-need

adjustments used in this study, these additional funds appear to be insufficient to

offset the supplemental cost of these programs.

To what extent do education resource measures vary across the nation?

The distribution of public education resources is substantially more nearly equal

than wealth measured by housing values, and somewhat less varied than wealth

measured by household income.

State public education allocation systems are the primary equalizing factors of

education resources, with some additional equalization resulting from the various

federal funding programs.

Implications for Further Research

xx
The results obtained through multiple regression demonstrate that school district

spending substantially varies by geographic region, as does student/teacher ratio. This

substantial difference in education funding by region may be a matter of concern—the

implications of which need to be thoroughly explored by the school finance research

community.

Two findings of this study run somewhat counter to initial expectations. First, spending

by school district size is higher only for those school districts with under 1,000 enrollment,

other factors being equal. This seems to suggest that the expected diseconomies of small scale

only hold for the nation’s smallest school districts, a finding that may elicit further study.

A second, somewhat surprising, finding is that more money is spent in districts with the

highest percentages of minority students ($4,514 versus $3,920), holding other school district

and community characteristics constant. This finding should be further explored by school

finance researchers.

A less surprising finding is that greater total expenditures per student are associated with

higher community socioeconomic status, measured by the value of owner-occupied housing (per

student expenditures of $4,401 versus $3,992, other factors held constant), or by education

attainment ($4,515 versus $3,953). Differences in student/teacher ratios also appear but are less

than 1.5 students per teacher.

When socioeconomic status is measured by cost-adjusted median household income,

however, and all other factors are held constant, the expenditures per student between the

highest and lowest income groups differ by only $186 ($4,382 versus $4,196). These findings

relating alternative measures of socioeconomic status to education spending provide a fertile

field for further research. 

Public education total expenditures per student are highest in low poverty districts, but

unlike socioeconomic status, the relationship is not linear. Controlling for other factors, the

differential between the highest and lowest poverty districts is $309 per student ($4,219 versus

xxi
$4,528). Controlling for other school district characteristics, only school districts in the

category with the fewest children in poverty spend substantially more per student.

It is also worthy of note that smaller dollar differences in per student expenditures are

observed when core instructional, as opposed to total, expenditures are examined by

socioeconomic status. Core instructional expenditures reflect the central purpose of the local

education agency, which is to educate children. These findings suggest that lower wealth

districts appear to be investing a larger percentage of their spending on core instruction, rather

than on other areas. Although such findings mitigate total expenditure differences by

socioeconomic status, they may also indicate that poor school districts are deferring needed

school construction, renovation, and the purchase of instructional equipment. The current study

is unable to completely explore the differences in spending for capital outlay, which includes

both school construction and purchases of equipment. This also provides yet another

opportunity for further research.

xxii
xxiii
xxiv
Introduction

The Purpose of This Report

Finance issues are among the most fundamental to public education. Questions relating

to “who pays,” “how much,” and “for whom” are central to the concepts of equity and

adequacy, which have long been at the heart of public education fiscal policy. Equity issues

focus on the fairness of the overall public education allocation system. Given our decentralized

system of public education, it is not surprising that more public dollars are spent on the

education of some school children as opposed to others. These differences may not be

undesirable or unwarranted. Given the variations in the cost of education resources and in the

needs of students that are known to exist across districts, equal dollars per student may not

result in equal education opportunities. Thus, a major fiscal policy question is: Where do

expenditure differences occur and to what degree? If expenditure differences are simply related

to the differing capacities of states and localities to purchase public education services, at what

point do these differences result in inequities for different types of students? These expenditure

differentials are especially of interest as they relate to children in particular categories of

historical concern, such as minority status, poverty, and other at-risk factors. 

To the extent that these types of questions pertain to unequal allocations of public

education resources to students with comparable education needs, they are considered to be

horizontal equity issues. Vertical equity relates to expenditure differences justified by the

differing education needs of students. For example, all public education funding formulas

allocate different amounts of revenue to districts to account for the differing education needs of

some types of students (e.g., special education). Vertical equity questions relate to which kinds

of students should be eligible for additional aid and the appropriate size for these supplements. 

Both of these sets of equity issues closely relate to the adequacy of education revenues. Are

they sufficient for their intended purpose? As the exact purposes of education are not fully

agreed upon and the technology of education is not well understood, objective determinations

of whether given amounts of education resources are sufficient for their intended purpose

generally cannot be made. For this reason, adequacy issues are most often expressed in terms

1
that are relative to some specific standard, and all of these traditional fiscal policy issues revert

to basic questions about who is receiving how much and for what purpose.

This report begins to answer these and other important school finance questions in ways

that have not been previously reported. Measures of how much districts receive in public funds

and how these resources are used to provide public education services are available for all of

the school districts in the country, and these measures are matched to such important district

characteristics as the percentage of children in poverty, the percentage of minority children, and

average wealth. Through the use of cost adjustments, alternative measures of district spending

are expressed in terms of relative “buying power,” and through the use of student weights,

variations in student need are also taken into account. Multivariate, as well as bivariate,

analyses are used to isolate the impact of individual district and community factors on variation

in expenditure. In addition to these adjusted forms, all of the resource measures included in

this report are presented in their original (unadjusted) form for comparative purposes. 

This report addresses four questions that are fundamental to public education fiscal

policy: 

How do education resource measures, such as total expenditures per student,

vary in different types of school districts and communities across the nation?

How do school districts serving different types of students and communities

allocate resources across the categories of instruction, administration, and capital

outlay? 

 

How do local, state, and federal revenues vary for school districts serving

different types of students and communities? 

To what extent do education resource measures vary across the nation?

2
The first question examines alternative measures of school district spending and the

relationships of these measures to such district and community characteristics as the percentage

of students in poverty, the percentage of minority students, and average property wealth in the

district. The second question examines the breakout of aggregate expenditure measures into the

more detailed categories of instruction, administration, and capital outlay. To address the third

question, revenues are examined to assess varying reliance on local, state, and federal sources

to support education services in different types of districts. The final question assesses total

disparity in resource measures such as total expenditures across the nation.

Interest in these fundamental questions about the financing of public education is as old

as public education itself. Over time, and for a number of reasons, questions related to support

for public education have become among the most important we face as a nation. The growing

competitiveness associated with global markets has made it increasingly clear that an educated

and skilled populace is perhaps our most valuable national resource. Increasingly, education

attainment is being seen as synonymous with national well-being. This renewed sense of

urgency regarding the importance of the public education investment is sounded in the

landmark reform document, A Nation At Risk, the Imperative for Educational Reform (National

Commission on Excellence in Education 1983). Referring to the importance of public

education, it begins:

Our nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce,

industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors

throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many

causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that undergirds American

prosperity, security, and civility.

This concern with public education is carried to the present through the formation of such

national education policy as Goals 2000: Educate America. Described by the U.S. Secretary of

Education Riley as “the most comprehensive and important new federal legislation affecting K12 education in years,” this law specifies a set of goals and procedures for “reinventing

American education” by the year 2000 (U.S. Department of Education 1994). 

3
Concepts related to public education are also viewed as fundamental to our national

identity. Access to public education has long been considered central to equality of

opportunity. Public education is generally considered to be the primary vehicle for providing

equality of access to the opportunities in life.

The high level of interest in the financing and provision of public education services has

generated substantial research and policy activity. For example, a number of efforts have been

made to assess the degree of equity in school finance (Berne and Stiefel 1984; Schwartz,

Myron, and Moskowitz 1988; Carroll 1983). The courts have also played a major role relative

to school finance equalization (Clune 1992) with legal challenges to the equity of school

financing in half of the states in the nation (Hickrod 1994). Qualitative analyses, such as

Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities (1991), sometimes portray a stark picture of what

inadequate levels of education resources can mean on an individual basis, especially for

minority students living in extreme poverty.

Data Sources and Procedures

This report addresses school finance policy issues through the analysis of school district

revenue and expenditure data from the 1990 Survey of Local Government Finances—School

Systems (F-33) collected by the U.S. Bureau of Census, as the collection request for the

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). All of the public school districts in the nation

are represented in this data collection, although only “regular” school districts were included in

the analysis (excluding special education districts, for example). To increase the policy

relevance of these analyses, these fiscal data were matched to other databases that provide more

descriptive information about districts and the communities in which they are located. These

other data sources are the nonfiscal data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) from the

1989-1990 school year and the 1990 data collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census mapped

by school district. The resulting dataset enables the examination of public education

expenditure patterns in public school districts across the nation, as well as the comparison of

these allocations across a full set of district and community characteristics. Data sources,

procedures, and limitations are described in more detail in Appendix D.

4
Resource measures. Fiscal and actual resource measures are presented in this report. 

The fiscal resource measures include total revenues, total expenditures, current operating

expenditures, and core instructional expenditures. The first measure includes the total amount

of district revenues from local, state, and federal sources. The first two expenditure measures,

total and current operating expenditures, differ by the inclusion of capital outlay (school

construction and renovation and the purchase of equipment) and debt service. Core

instructional expenditures are limited to all district expenditures associated with actual

instructional services. For example, school and general administrative expenditures are

excluded from this last expenditure measure.

The last resource measure used in this report is the average number of students per

teacher. This measure of actual education resources is derived by dividing the total number of

students in the district by the total number of teachers, and includes individuals who teach in an

environment other than a regular classroom setting (e.g., a special education teacher in a

resource room). 

District and community variables. The district variables included in this report are the

enrollment of the districts and the district's level of instruction (elementary, secondary, or

unified). Districts are also described by the types of students they enroll; these student

characteristics include the percentages of children who live in poverty, who are special

education, who have limited proficiency in English, who are minority, and who are at-risk.1

Community measures include type of location (i.e., urban, suburban, or rural) and region

of the country. Community wealth is measured by household income and the value of owneroccupied housing within the district’s boundaries.2

 Characteristics of community residents

 

 

1

 “At-risk children” is a variable created by the U.S. Bureau of Census. The Census definition is “living

with a single mother who is not a high school graduate and is below the poverty line.”

 

2

In the full set of analyses, as presented in Appendix A, median household income was included in

nominal and cost-adjusted forms to reflect the differing purchasing power of a given level of family income in

different locations. Only the cost-adjusted results are shown in the main body of the report because of the

minimal difference between these two sets of results. The variable median value of owner-occupied housing was

only presented in its nominal form because these values already reflect the types of regional market conditions

the resource costs are designed to represent.

5
include the percentage of householders with high school diplomas and the percentage of

persons living in poverty. More detailed descriptions of the variables, and other terms used in

this report, are included in Appendix E. The procedures used in deriving the breakpoints for

these variables are described in Appendix D.

Resource adjustments. The resource measures listed above are presented in several

alternative forms:

Actual quantities reflect the resource amounts actually reported for individual districts

by the state education agency.

Resource-cost-adjusted amounts reflect dollar amounts adjusted for cost variations in

different localities. Along with most other commodities, dollars spent for education services

have varying levels of buying power in different areas of states and across the nation. 

Education resources are expressed in resource-cost-adjusted terms to reflect variations in real

education resources, as opposed to nominal dollars. The resource-cost adjustments used in this

report are based on cost-of-living adjustments designed to distinguish between metropolitan and

rural areas within each state (McMahon and Chang 1991). The strengths and limitations of

these indices, as well as alternative measures that might be used for these purposes, are

described in Appendix D.

Student-need-adjusted quantities are derived from a set of adjustments that account for

differing compositions of student need within school districts. For example, equal education

resources for a class of 25 special education and a class of 25 regular education students may

produce very unequal levels of service in relation to the needs of the students enrolled. The

student-need adjustments used for this study reflect the varying resource needs of three

commonly recognized categories of special needs students. The following types of students

were counted, or weighted, to equal more than one student:

Special education students were given a weight of 2.3.

6
Compensatory education students were given a weight of 1.2.

Limited English proficient (LEP) students were given a weight of 1.2.

To apply this type of adjustment, the counts of special needs students in each district are

multiplied by their weights to derive a total weighted count of students. For example, 100

special education students are counted as 230 regular education students. The weight of 2.3

reflects findings from several national studies of special education costs that show services for

special education students to be 2.3 times as costly as for their regular education counterparts

(Moore, Strang, Schwartz, and Braddock 1988; Chaikind, Danielson, and Brauen 1993). 

Unfortunately, there are no nationally representative cost data for compensatory education

(Chapter 1) students or for LEP students. As stated by Levin (1989), “there is no single cost

estimate that can be used as a basis for funding a major education program for at-risk

students.” He goes on to suggest an estimated weight of 1.5, with an alternative possible

weight of 1.2. This latter weight is based on the average Chapter 1 allocation per student in

relation to the average total expenditure per student in 1987. For the purposes of this study,

the more conservative estimate of 1.2 is used for both compensatory education and LEP

students.3

Because the application of these student weights will always have the effect of

increasing the student count in districts with special needs students, student-need-adjusted

enrollment will always be as large as, or larger than, the actual count of students. Conversely,

resource quantities per student will be less when expressed in student-need-adjusted terms. The

full derivation and use of these student weights, and their limitations, are described in

Appendix D.

 

 

3

The counts of compensatory education and limited English proficient (LEP) students by district used in

this study were also based on estimates. The count of compensatory students was based on the percentage of

school-age children in the district living in poverty. The LEP count was based on the percentage of school-age

children residing in the district who live in homes in which the language spoken is not English, and who speak

English “not well” or “not at all.” Both of these data items were derived from the 1990 Census Mapping data.

7
Resource-cost and student-need-adjusted quantities combine both of these types of

adjustments. They reflect the relative purchasing power of education dollars when both

resource-cost and student-need differentials are taken into account. This weighting has the

effect of producing analytic results that apply to the typical student in a typical district of a

certain type. For example, average expenditures per student can be compared across districts in

different size categories, holding constant the varying needs of students in those districts or

differences in resource costs. This allows the impact of district size to be separated from those

other factors. 

Three types of procedures were used to analyze these data:

Comparisons of the actual and resource-cost and student-need-adjusted amounts

of education resources received by different types of school districts and

communities (bivariate analysis).

Comparisons of the actual and resource-cost and student-need-adjusted amounts

of education resources received by different types of school districts and

communities, holding other factors constant (multivariate analysis). The 12

factors are district enrollment, district type, percentage of children in poverty,

percentage of special education students, percentage of LEP children, percentage

of minority enrollment, percentage of at-risk children, metropolitan status,

geographic region, median household income (cost-adjusted), median value

owner-occupied housing, and education attainment of householders. In

comparing districts on any one factor, the values represent districts with average

values on all of the other factors. (See Appendix D for full description of

regression model.) 

Measures of the degree of variation in resource quantities across districts

(dispersion analysis).

8
The first approach is presented in the form of cross-tabulations of average values. For

example, it is used to show simple relationships between actual and fully adjusted expenditures

per student and the percentage of minority students. The second analytical approach reveals the

impact of each individual district and community factor on alternative resource allocation

measures in districts that are similar on other factors. This type of multivariate analysis sheds

light on how simple two-way relationships between variables (e.g., the percentage of minority

students and expenditures per student) can be better explained by taking other factors into

account (e.g., the percentage of students in poverty). The final set of procedures measures the

degree of variation in quantities of education resources per student. For example, this approach

provides alternative measures of the difference between high and low spending districts.

The importance of the multivariate analyses to a more complete understanding of the

true relationships among the variables presented in this report is illustrated in table 14 on page

38. This shows the differing results that can be obtained through the use of bivariate and

multivariate analyses. These data show that although the bivariate results indicate a positive

relationship between student/teacher ratios and the percentage of minority enrollment, the

multivariate data indicate the exact opposite relationship between these variables. This

difference results from the fact that although the bivariate results show the direct relationship

between these two variables, the multivariate analyses also take simultaneously into account the

effects of a number of variables believed to be relevant to variations in student/teacher ratios. 

Thus, while the bivariate analysis suggests a positive relationship between these two variables,

the multivariate analysis indicates that this result is really an artifact of the relationship between

the percentage of minority students and other related variables, such as the percentage of

students in poverty and district urbanicity. The multivariate analysis shows that when the

relationship between all of these related variables and student/teacher ratios are considered

simultaneously, the relationship between percentage minority enrollments and student/teacher

ratios becomes negative.

The full set of tables showing results from all three of these analytical approaches is

found in Appendix A. All of the detailed results presented throughout the body of this report

are drawn from Appendix A. All results are weighted by student enrollment, which causes a

9
district of 2,000 students to make twice the contribution to a national average than a district of

1,000 students (i.e., each student is weighted equally). Standard deviations for tables A1.1 -

A7.2 of Appendix A are shown in Appendix B. These tables are included to provide a

standard measure of variation for the alternative expenditure results. Appendix C contains the

number of districts in each of the district and community characteristic categories.

10
Findings

Findings are presented in four sections, based on the major policy questions listed in the

introduction. Tables containing the full set of results from the analyses underlying this report

are presented in Appendix A. The discussion that follows draws on excerpts from these full

tables, presented in tabular and graphic form.

How Do Education Resource Measures, Such as Total Expenditures Per Student, Vary in

Different Types of School Districts and Communities Across the Nation?

Summary of findings. How do education expenditures vary with alternative district and

community measures? Students in districts enrolling the lowest percentages of students in

poverty and the lowest percentages of students in need of special education services received

the highest expenditures. While these trends are matters of concern from a student equity

perspective, they should be considered in the context of no clear patterns of expenditure

differentials for limited English proficient and at-risk students, and a positive relationship

between percentage of minority students and expenditures. A summary of the most important

individual findings from this section is provided below.

Of all the variables included in this report, the largest variations in average

public education expenditures occur between regions. Fully adjusted

expenditures per student are substantially higher in the northeastern region of the

country and are lowest in the West ($5,293 versus $3,632).

Public education expenditures per student are highest in the nation’s smallest

districts whereas students receive an average fully adjusted expenditure of $4,862

versus $4,216 in the largest districts (10,000 students and above).

Greater education expenditures per student are associated with higher community

socioeconomic status as measured by the value of owner-occupied housing

($4,401 versus $3,992, fully adjusted) or by education attainment ($4,515 versus

11
$3,953, fully adjusted). However, this relationship is less pronounced when

socioeconomic status is defined in terms of median household income. When

the relationship between this variable and education expenditures is considered in

isolation, only the wealthiest group is considerably different from the other

groups.

More money is spent in districts with the highest percentages of minority

students compared to districts with the lowest percentages of minority students

($4,514 versus $3,920). Although minority students in poverty are often viewed

as those least served by current systems of public education funding, these

findings suggest that while inequalities may remain for students in poverty, they

do not appear to be driven by minority status.

Public education expenditures per student are highest in low poverty districts.

The fully adjusted differential between the highest and lowest poverty districts is

$309 per student ($4,219 versus $4,528). However, this relationship is not linear

and affects only the 11 percent of students in the wealthiest districts. Among the

other 89 percent of students, the variation is only $8 per student.

Districts with the highest percentages of students in special education show

higher overall actual expenditures than do districts with the lowest percentages of

special education students ($5,447 versus $5,061). However, when differences in

the cost of living and the added cost of serving students with supplemental needs

are included, an opposite expenditure pattern is observed ($4,219 versus $4,510).

Detailed findings by district characteristics.

Minority enrollment. The average expenditure data presented in this section of the

report will be presented in four columns, as shown in table 1. The first two expenditure

columns show the bivariate results, and the last two columns present the expenditure estimates

12
from the multivariate analysis. In both of these two pairs of columns, actual (unadjusted)

expenditures are compared to the fully adjusted results. While the bivariate analysis is only

based on the two variables listed in the table (e.g., total expenditures and percentage of

minority enrollment), the multivariate analysis shows average expenditures by percentage

minority with the effects of all the other variables included in this analysis also taken into

account. The other variables included in the multivariate analysis are presented in the

individual tables 1 through 12, and are summarized in table A9 in Appendix A.

In assessing the relationship between two listed variables (e.g., percentage of minority

enrollment and expenditures), it is important to examine all four of the alternative sets of

results shown in each table. Any single set of numbers presented in isolation from the others

may present a very different set of interpretations than viewing the full set of adjusted and

unadjusted findings. The first district variable, percentage of minority students, will be used as

the basis for describing and presenting a rationale for using these four columns of expenditure

results. This variable is especially appropriate for this purpose because shifting expenditure

patterns are observed across the four columns.

Column 1, the actual bivariate results, shows the average actual expenditure per student

for each of the four percentage of minority student groupings. Considerably larger average

actual expenditures per student are shown in districts with the highest percentages of minority

students (50 percent or more). In column 2, these actual expenditures are adjusted to reflect

variations in resource costs and student needs using the cost adjustment factors described

above. The potential impact of these types of adjustments is well illustrated in the case of this

variable, because the expenditure trend observed in column 1 is reversed in column 2. That is,

when expenditures are converted to “buying power” through the application of resource-cost

and student-need adjustments, the districts enrolling the highest percentages of minority

students are shown to have the least, rather than the most, purchasing power. This reversal is

due to the fact that districts with high percentages of minority students tend to be in urban,

higher cost areas that tend to have greater percentages of students with greater needs (i.e., in

poverty or with limited English proficiency).

13
In columns 3 and 4, unadjusted versus cost- and need-adjusted expenditures are again

presented as in columns 1 and 2. The difference is that in these latter two cases, the

relationship between percentage minority enrollment and average expenditures is estimated

within the context of a number of other variables that have been shown to also relate to

variations in district expenditures. The expenditure data in columns 3 and 4 show the estimated

impact of the percentage of minority students in the district on actual and cost- and needadjusted expenditure estimates when the impact of a number of other variables that might

influence these are also taken into account. When we remove, or “hold constant,” the impact

of variables such as percentage of students in poverty, a positive relationship between

expenditures and percentage minority is shown in both the unadjusted (column 3) and the

adjusted (column 4) estimates.

These findings illustrate the importance of presenting all four sets of results in

conjunction with each of the variables to be presented in this section of the report. However,

because the fully adjusted estimates presented in column 4 are considered to have the most

utility for comparative purposes, these findings will be given the most emphasis in the

narrative. Accordingly, references to “fully adjusted” as opposed to “actual” expenditures

compare the estimates from column 4 to the actual expenditure data presented in column 1. 

This comparison is also shown in graphic form (figure 1).

14
Table 1.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of minority enrollment

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Minority Enrollment

 Less than 5% 21.9 $5,043 $4,389 $4,581 $3,920

 5% - <20% 26.4 5,169 4,350 4,954 4,140

 20% - <50% 25.6 5,071 4,190 5,418 4,390

 50% or more 26.1 5,474 4,103 5,740 4,514

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

Figure 1.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of minority 

enrollment

$5,043

$3,920

$5,169

$4,140

$5,071

$4,390

$5,474

$4,514

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

Minority Enrollment Percentages

 Less than 5% 5% - <20% 20% - <50% 50% or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data.

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

15
The multivariate analysis (columns 3 and 4) shows a clear, positive relationship between

the percentage of minority students and expenditures in a district, when factors are equal. This

indicates that among districts that are similar among such factors as percentage poverty and

urbanicity, more is spent per student in high minority districts than in low minority districts

($4,514 versus $3,920).

Minority children in poverty are often viewed as those least served through current

public education allocation systems. These findings suggest that although general inequalities

may remain for students in poverty, they do not seem to be driven by minority status.

School-age children in poverty. As shown in table 2 and figure 2, actual public

education expenditures are higher for children in low poverty districts (less than 5 percent

poverty) than in other districts. However, among districts with more than 5 percent poverty,

average expenditures per student are similar whether the poverty percentage is less than 15

percent or more than 25 percent. The expenditure disparity between districts enrolling the

lowest percentages of students in poverty and the other districts depends on the resource

measure used. The degree of variation is the greatest in terms of unadjusted, actual dollars. 

However, when actual dollars (table 2, column 1) are adjusted to reflect resource-cost and

student-need variations, this differential is reduced somewhat (table 2, column 2). When other

factors that might affect the relationship between expenditures and poverty are taken into

account through the multivariate analysis (e.g., income and property wealth), the unadjusted

dollar variation associated with poverty is seen to be smaller (column 3). This suggests that of

the actual expenditure difference of $1,392 between the highest and lowest poverty districts

($6,565 - $5,173), all but $574 ($5,689 - $5,115) can be better explained in terms of other

types of differences between these same districts. 

16
Table 2.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of school-age children in poverty

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

School-Age Children in Poverty

 Less than 5% 11.3 $6,565 $5,209 $5,689 $4,528

 5% - <15% 36.0 5,120 4,289 5,176 4,227

 15% - <25% 26.3 4,736 4,003 5,091 4,205

 25% or more 26.4 5,173 4,044 5,115 4,219

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

The fully adjusted differential in expenditures between students in the districts enrolling

the lowest and the highest percentages of students in poverty is shown to be $309 ($4,528 -

$4,219). It is also important to note that very little relationship between expenditures and

poverty is shown for three of the four district poverty groupings. This overall pattern between

expenditures and the percentage of students in poverty holds across all four columns of

analyses. Only in the lowest poverty districts (less than 5 percent) are expenditures consistently

higher, and in fully adjusted terms this differential is reduced to about 7 percent ($4,219 versus

$4,528).4

 

 

4

These findings differ from earlier analyses of the relationship between education expenditures and poverty

conducted by Schwartz and Moskowitz (1988). Their state-by-state analyses reported 3 states with negative

correlations, 14 states near zero, and 33 states with a positive relationship between the two variables. To further

test our findings, which are based on more current data and evaluate this relationship on a national basis, we ran

analyses dividing the districts into exact poverty quartiles. We also ran a straight correlation between the various

measures of education spending used in this report and the percentage of school-age children in poverty. In each

case we found a negative relationship between spending and poverty. Further analyses would be required to

determine whether these contradictory findings represent a change over time (the Schwartz and Moskowitz

poverty data are from 1979, while the data used in this report are from the 1990 census) or represent differences

in the unit of analysis and in the methodological approach.

17
Special education students. Students in districts with the highest percentages of students

$6,565

$4,528

$5,120

$4,227

$4,736

$4,205

$5,173

$4,219

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

Poverty Percentages

 less than 5% 5% - <15% 15% - <25% 25% or more

Figure 2.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of

school-age children in poverty

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, 

National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary 

file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

in special education show higher overall actual expenditures (table 3 and figure 3). However,

when these expenditures are expressed in fully adjusted terms, the opposite is true. That is,

although districts with higher percentages of special education students receive supplemental

resources to serve those students, these additional funds appear to be insufficient to offset the

supplemental cost of these programs.

18
Table 3.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of special education students

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Special Education Students

 Less than 3% 17.3 $5,061 $4,692 $4,932 $4,510

 3% - <10% 44.2 5,030 4,060 5,093 4,182

 10% or more 38.5 5,447 4,278 5,433 4,219

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

19
Limited English proficient (LEP) children. As shown in table 4 and figure 4, students

Figure 3.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of 

special education students

$5,061

$4,510

$5,030

$4,182

$5,447

$4,219

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

Special Education Percentages

 Less than 3% 3% - <10% 10% or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

in districts with the highest percentages of LEP students also show higher overall actual

expenditures. However, on a cost- and need-adjusted basis, these districts show the lowest

average expenditures. These findings are predicated on the assumption that a weight of 1.2 is a

reasonably accurate reflection of the supplemental costs of serving LEP students.

20
Table 4.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of limited English proficient children

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Limited English Proficient Children

 0% 9.3 $ 4,962 $4,333 $5,061 $4,177

 >0% - <5% 69.0 5,119 4,308 5,234 4,316

 5% or more 21.6 5,541 4,043 5,133 4,084

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

Figure 4.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of 

limited English proficient children

$4,962

$4,177

$5,119

$4,316

$5,541

$4,084

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

Limited English Proficient Percentages

 0% >0% - <5% 5% or more 

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

21
School-age at-risk children. This category represents the percentage of school-age

children residing within district boundaries, living with a single parent who is not a high school

graduate and who lives below the poverty level. Although the bivariate results shown in table

5 and figure 5 indicate lower expenditures in districts enrolling 3 to less than 5 percent and 5

percent or more at-risk children, these differentials are almost entirely explainable as the effects

of other related variables, as shown in the multivariate results.

22
Table 5.-- Total expenditures per student by percentage of school-age at-risk children

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

District

characteristics

Percentage of

enrollment

Actual

(1)

Cost-and-need

adjusted

(2)

Unadjusted

Estimates

(3)

Cost-and-need

adjusted

estimates

(4)

School age at risk children

Less than 3% 45.4 $4,259 $5,220 $5,396 $4,493

3% -- < 5% 15.4 4,773 4,045 5,223 4,273

5% or more 39.2 5,131 4,057 5,157 4,239

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

District enrollment. In actual dollars, districts spend about the same amount per student

irrespective of district size. However, as shown in table 6 and figure 6, the multivariate

analysis of adjusted expenditures shows expenditures per student to be highest in districts

enrolling fewer than 1,000 students, other factors being equal, than in districts of all other sizes. 

The fact that this variation is more pronounced in the multivariate analysis shows a strong

relationship between small district size and expenditures, and suggests that differences in

district size may underlie some of the other relationships observed in the bivariate analysis,

such as that between urbanicity and expenditures. While about one-half (52.2 percent) of the

districts in the country fit into this classification, they serve only 7.1 percent of the nation’s

public school children.

23
Table 6.-- Total expenditures per student by district enrollment

Figure 5.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by percentage of 

school-age at-risk children

$5,396

$4,259

$4,773

$4,273

$5,131

$4,239

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

At-Risk Percentages

 Less than 3% 3% - <5% 5% or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

District Enrollment

 0 - 999 7.1 $5,348 $4,663 $5,095 $4,862

 1,000 - 4,999 30.9 5,147 4,334 5,199 4,235

 5,000 - 9,999 16.2 5,116 4,194 5,090 4,123

 10,000 or more 45.8 5,234 4,155 5,120 4,216

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

24
25
Figure 6.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by district enrollment

$5,348

$4,862

$5,147

$4,235

$5,116

$4,123

$5,234

$4,216

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

District Enrollment

 0 - 999 1,000 - 4,999 5,000 - 9,999 10,000 or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

26
District type. District type refers to the level of instruction provided in the district (i.e.,

whether it is an elementary, secondary, or unified district). While the vast majority of students

(97 percent) are enrolled in unified districts, which serve both elementary and secondary

students, a small percentage of students is enrolled in districts serving only elementary or only

secondary students. Because it is more costly to serve high school students (Hertert, Busch,

and Odden 1994), it is not surprising to see, as shown in table 7 and figure 7, that districts

serving only high school students have higher average expenditures per student. Although

actual levels of expenditure are clearly higher in elementary than in unified districts (column 1),

in terms of actual buying power the differential shown in this two-way relationship diminishes

substantially (column 2). Much of the variation in actual expenditures is likely due to the fact

that elementary districts tend to be located in high cost areas. When all other variables

included in this analysis are taken into account, as shown in columns 3 and 4, elementary

district expenditures are shown to be essentially the same as for unified districts. This is

surprising in that unified districts serve secondary, as well as elementary, students. Unified

districts may be able to spend less by sharing administrative costs across all grade levels.

Table 7.-- Total expenditures per student by district type

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

District Type

 Elementary 0.9 $5,850 $4,382 $5,102 $4,151

 Secondary 2.2 6,610 5,134 6,493 5,201

 Unified 97.0 5,159 4,232 5,168 4,233

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

27
Detailed findings by community characteristics.

Figure 7.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by district type

$5,850

$4,151

$6,610

$5,159 $5,201

$4,233

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

District Type

 Elementary Secondary Unified

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Metropolitan status. As shown in table 8, although actual expenditures per student are

substantially lower in rural districts (column 1), this bivariate differential is reduced

substantially when expressed in adjusted terms (column 2). This is largely due to the lower

costs exhibited in rural areas. (The detailed results presented in table A3.2 show this to be

predominantly a cost rather than a student-need effect.) For the multivariate analysis, while

actual expenditures are shown to be somewhat smaller in the rural areas (column 3), on a fully

adjusted basis they are shown to be higher than for urban or suburban districts (column 4).

This suggests that most of the actual expenditure differential observed between rural and other

districts is the result of other factors that are related to rural locations (e.g., district size), as

well as lower costs in rural areas. (See also figure 8.)

28
Table 8.-- Total expenditures per student by metropolitan status

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

Community Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Metropolitan Status

 Urban/central cities 26.9 $5,447 $4,195 $5,241 $4,218

 Suburban/metropolitan 47.3 5,427 4,389 5,198 4,189

 Rural 25.7 4,507 4,064 5,145 4,408

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

29
Figure 8.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by metropolitan status

$5,447

$4,218

$5,427

$4,189

$4,507 $4,408

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

Metropolitan Status

 Urban/central cities Suburban/metropolitan Rural

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Geographic region. Districts in the northeastern region of the country outspend their

counterparts from all other regions by over $2,000, although one-third of this difference is

explainable in terms of different resource costs and other district characteristics. Although the

South is the lowest spending region in actual dollars (table 9, column 1), in terms of buying

power and when other variables are taken into account, southern districts are shown to

outspend districts in the western region of the country by a substantial margin. Columns 2

through 4 show a consistent ranking in expenditures per student across the regions, with the

Northeast spending the most, the Midwest second, the South third, and the West the least. (See

also figure 9.)

30
Table 9.-- Total expenditures per student by geographic region

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

Community Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Geographic Region

 Northeast 17.3 $7,240 $5,383 $6,948 $5,293

 Midwest 24.5 4,995 4,361 5,336 4,383

 South 36.3 4,567 3,948 4,708 4,047

 West 22.0 4,851 3,749 4,468 3,632

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

31
Figure 9.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by geographic region

$7,240

$5,293

$4,995

$4,383 $4,567

$4,047

$4,851

$3,632

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

Geographic Region

 Northeast Midwest South West

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Education attainment of householders. Education expenditures are greatest in

communities with the most high school graduates. This is not surprising, as it would be

expected that communities with higher education attainment levels would be more willing, and

able, to provide local support for public education programs (Riddle 1990). As shown in table

10, roughly half of the expenditure differential between the lowest and highest education

attainment groups can be explained by cost and need differences and other factors ($5,754 -

$4,503 = $1,251 [column 1]) versus $4,515 - $3,953 = $562 [column 4]). Thus, among

districts similar on other factors, those with more than 85 percent high school graduates spend

$562 more per student than those with fewer than 65 percent high school graduates, a

difference of 14 percent ($4,515 versus $3,953). (See also figure 10.)

32
Table 10.-- Total expenditures per student by education attainment of householders

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

Community Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Education Attainment of Householders

 Less than 65% high school graduates 18.1 $4,503 $3,766 $4,972 $3,953

 65% - <75% high school graduates 31.3 5,202 4,188 5,127 4,166

 75% - <85% high school graduates 31.3 5,244 4,328 5,264 4,351

 85% or more high school graduates 19.4 5,754 4,681 5,406 4,515

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

33
Figure 10.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by education 

attainment of householders

$4,503

$3,953

$5,202

$4,166

$5,244

$4,351

$5,754

$4,515

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

Education Attainment

 Less than 65%

 h.s. graduates 

 65% - <75%

 h.s. graduates

 75% - <85%

 h.s. graduates

 85% or more

 h.s. graduates

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Median value owner-occupied housing.5 As property taxes provide an important basis

of support for public education throughout the states, it is not surprising to see a positive

relationship between education expenditures and housing values (table 11). This relationship is

still apparent when viewed from the perspective of relative buying power (column 2) and when

other related factors are taken into account (column 4). However, when other factors are taken

into account and expenditures are fully adjusted, the education expenditure differential between

the highest and lowest categories of housing values is reduced from $1,716 ($6,155 - $4,439

[column 1]) to $409 ($4,401 - $3,992 [column 4]). (See also figure 11.)

 

 

5

 These housing values are based on homeowners’ own estimates. Concerns have been expressed about the

accuracy of these subjectively derived estimates. However, research found that homeowners overestimate

housing values by only 6 percent and that these overestimates are unrelated to homeowner characteristics, the

house, and the local market (Goodman and Ittner 1992).

34
Table 11.-- Total expenditures per student by median value owner-occupied housing

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

Community Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Median Value Owner-Occupied Housing

 Less than $40,000 10.8 $4,439 $3,895 $4,634 $3,992

 $40,000 - <$55,000 20.2 4,504 3,947 4,751 4,074

 $55,000 - <$85,000 32.5 4,802 4,157 5,074 4,285

 $85,000 or more 36.5 6,155 4,615 5,717 4,401

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

35
Median household income (cost-adjusted). A positive relationship between household

Figure 11.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by median value 

owner-occupied housing

$4,439

$3,992

$4,504

$4,074

$4,802

$4,285

$6,155

$4,401

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

Median Housing Value

Less than $40,000 $40,000 - <$55,000 

$55,000 - <$85,000 $85,000 or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

income and expenditures is observed in table 12. This bivariate relationship also generally

holds when expenditures are considered on an adjusted basis (column 2). However, when these

two variables are compared on a cost- and need-adjusted basis in the multivariate analysis

(column 4), these expenditure differentials are substantially diminished. Expenditures per

student for the highest income category exceeded those for the lowest income category by an

average of $186 ($4,382 - $4,196 from column 4). While a positive relationship between

income and expenditures generally holds across this analysis, the multivariate analysis shows

that this relationship is due to differences in student needs and resource costs, and to other

variations included in the multivariate analysis. (See also figure 12.)

36
Table 12.-- Total expenditures per student by median household income (cost-adjusted)

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Cost- and NeedPercentage of Cost- and Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

Community Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Median Household Income

 Less than $20,000 10.0 $4,744 $3,894 $5,324 $4,196

 $20,000 - <$25,000 27.9 5,132 4,101 5,279 4,228

 $25,000 - <$30,000 25.9 4,839 4,078 5,127 4,202

 $30,000 - <$35,000 15.8 5,260 4,337 5,109 4,250

 $35,000 or more 20.5 5,905 4,792 5,175 4,382

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

37
What appear to be the overall effects of the various types of adjustments on the

Figure 12.-- Actual and adjusted total expenditures per student by median household 

income (cost-adjusted)

$4,744

$4,196

$5,132

$4,228

$4,839

$4,202

$5,260

$4,250

$5,905

$4,382

Bivariate

Actual

Multivariate

Cost- and Need-Adjusted

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

Median Household Income

Less than $20,000 $20,000 - <$25,000 $25,000 - <$30,000 

$30,000 - <$35,000 $35,000 or more

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

observed expenditure patterns? One consistent effect is a reduction in the observed

expenditure differential as the various adjustments are applied. For 9 of the 12 variables,

the expenditure gap diminishes between the top and bottom district groups as they are

transformed from their actual to fully adjusted forms. Generally, this would be expected. 

For example, because state and federal education aid formulas are designed to allocate more

resources to districts with concentrations of students with special needs, all else equal, higher

expenditures would be expected in districts with the most special needs students. Thus, it is

not surprising to see the observed differential in expenditure per student drop across districts

when these variations in student need are taken into account through the application of the

student-need adjustments (columns 2 and 4).

Applying the resource-cost adjustments that are reflected in columns 2 and 4 also often

results in reductions in observed expenditure variations across districts. Because the highest

cost centers are generally heavily urbanized areas with a more substantial local tax base, they

38
tend to show higher education expenditures. However, because of the higher costs they face,

these additional expenditures may not translate into increased purchasing power. Because the

resource-cost index adjusts nominal dollars into deflated “purchasing power” dollars, the

application of the resource cost index has a general tendency to show diminished adjusted

expenditures in high cost areas and increased adjusted expenditures in low cost areas, which

generally has an overall effect of reducing the observed differential between the highest and

lowest spending districts.

Generally, the use of multivariate analysis techniques also would be expected to lead to

a reduction in the size of the observed expenditure differential across districts that can be

associated with any single variable. The purpose of multivariate analysis is to sort out the

unique relationship between a given independent variable (e.g., percentage of students in

poverty) and the dependent variable (expenditures per student) by weighing the effects of a

number of related variables simultaneously. Because the bivariate analysis lumps the effect of

a given variable such as poverty with all of the other variables that may be correlated with it

(e.g., property wealth), the magnitude of a given effect is generally likely to appear much larger

in the bivariate results than in the multivariate findings, where only the unique effect of a given

variable is estimated.

How Do School Districts Serving Different Types of Students and Communities Allocate

Resources Across the Categories of Instruction, Administration, and Capital Outlay?

Questions about how funds for public education are used to purchase education

resources are increasingly coming to the forefront of education policy discussions (Picus 1994;

Wyckoff 1992; Fischer 1990; Hentschke 1988; Kirst 1988; Ginsburg 1981). What percentage

of the education dollar is used for overall administration; what percentage actually arrives at the

school level; what percentage is used for direct instruction; and what percentage is used for

direct services to children that go beyond the more traditional, purely instructional, function of

schools? With increasing demands for improvement in the quality and quantity of education

services at a time when resources for all public services are tightly constrained, there is

39
increasing interest in exactly how public education dollars are being used to provide education

services. 

To relate the questions stated above to policy alternatives, it is also critical to gain a

better understanding of how resource allocation patterns vary for different types of school

districts and communities. Comparable total expenditures per student in districts serving very

different populations of students may result in very different levels of resources at the

classroom level.

For example, concerns are sometimes expressed that despite the substantial flow of

dollars to high poverty schools through the federal Chapter 1 program, the learning gap

between high and low poverty schools is not closing (Sinclair and Gutmann 1990; Westat, Inc.

1992). However, if instructional services are still relatively insufficient in these schools, or if

the education atmosphere is inadequate due to underfunded health, social, and security services,

it may not be realistic to expect enhanced education outcomes from this program. Because

these analyses of resource allocation patterns within districts are somewhat exploratory within

the context of this overall examination of spending in education across the nation, there has

been no attempt to control for other district characteristics in the expenditure analysis presented

in this section (i.e., to conduct multivariate analyses). Plans for additional analyses of this type

are currently being developed.

Summary of findings.

Student/teacher ratios vary substantially by district size and region of the

country. In both actual and adjusted terms, the average ratio is over 20 percent

larger in the nation’s largest districts (10,000 students or more) as opposed to the

smallest (less than 1,000 students).6 In actual terms, the average student/teacher

ratio in the smallest districts is 15.1 as compared to 18.8 in the largest. These

differences are even more pronounced by geographic region of the country, with

 

 

6

Student/teacher ratios are only adjusted for student-need variations. Because this resource is expressed in

actual rather than dollar terms, resource-cost adjustments are inappropriate for this measure.

40
the Northeast showing an average student/teacher ratio of 15.6 as compared to

21.9 for the West. The Midwest and South show average student/teacher ratios

falling between these two values, at 17.3 and 17.1, respectively.

[Note: The following expenditure results were obtained only through bivariate analysis and do

not control for other district characteristics. As such, they should be interpreted with greater

caution than the results obtained through multivariate analysis.]

Districts serving relatively high percentages of students who are in poverty, who

are minority, and who are limited English proficient all allocate greater

percentages of their available funds for core instructional purposes than do

districts serving lower percentages of these same groups of students.

Capital outlay is generally the area most sensitive to variation in total

expenditures per student by type of district compared to the categories of

instruction and administration.7

 Districts with less to spend tend to focus on

direct instruction and administration at the expense of capital expenditures.

The differential between high and low poverty districts is especially

pronounced in the area of capital outlay, with the lowest poverty

districts showing expenditures that exceed those of the highest

poverty districts by 76.7 percent ($795 versus $450 per student). 

Percentage allocations for administrative services are largest in smaller districts,

in rural districts, and where housing values and median income are lowest.

 

 

7

For the purposes of this study, capital outlay includes land purchases, building repair and construction,

and expenditures on equipment. In subsequent analyses, these categories of capital expenditure might be

analyzed in more detail. It should also be noted that these analyses report actual expenditures. While

annualized costs are generally considered more appropriate in analyses of capital items, these cost data were

not available. 

41
The previously reported finding that districts in the northeastern section of the

country spend more than the other three regions (the Midwest, the South, and the

West) is especially true in the area of administration and support, in which

districts in the Northeast outspend their western counterparts by 65.0 percent

($1,371 versus $831 per student).

Detailed findings by district characteristics. The expenditure tables presented in this

section show cost- and need-adjusted percentage expenditures in columns 1 through 3 and costand need-adjusted dollars in columns 4 through 6. Tables of bivariate and multivariate results

of unadjusted and student-need-adjusted student/teacher ratios and corresponding graphic

presentations follow for some of the variables presented in this section. Student/teacher ratios

are included in this section because they represent a more concise definition of allocations for

core instructional purposes, and they represent real, as opposed to fiscal, resources. Although

only those variables with the most pronounced relationship with student/teacher ratios are

graphically displayed in the following section, ratios for all of the variables included in the

analysis are reported in tables A7 and A12 of Appendix A.

Minority enrollment. As shown in table 13, districts enrolling the largest percentages of

minority students also spend a greater percentage of the funds available to them for core

instructional purposes. These districts also allocate a lower percentage of funds for administration and capital outlay. In terms of adjusted expenditures, the only systematic relationship

shown with minority enrollment is that the low minority districts spend more on general

administration and support.

42
Table 13.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of minority enrollment

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Minority Enrollment

 Less than 5% 59.8 26.6 13.6 $2,624 $1,166 $599

 5% - <20% 60.4 25.6 14.0 2,629 1,112 609

 20% - <50% 60.2 25.6 14.2 2,524 1,073 593

 50% or more 63.2 25.2 11.6 2,592 1,035 476

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

As minority enrollment increases, so does the student/teacher ratio in both actual and

student-need-adjusted terms (table 14, columns 1 and 2). The multivariate results (columns 3

and 4) show the opposite pattern, which is similar to the overall expenditure results by minority

enrollment (table 1). The student-need-adjusted ratios are important because they reflect the

differing composition of the student in a class as well as overall class size. For example, what

is considered an appropriate student/teacher ratio is generally dependent on the special needs of

the students being served. An appropriate number of students per teacher for students with

disabilities, or for students who do not speak English, generally is considered to be different

than that for a class with no students with these kinds of special needs. (See also figure 13.)

43
Table 14.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority enrollment

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Minority Enrollment

 Less than 5% 21.9 17.0 19.1 18.7 21.5

 5% - <20% 26.5 17.8 20.2 18.0 20.7

 20% - <50% 25.7 18.2 21.0 17.7 20.4

 50% or more 25.9 18.7 22.2 17.5 20.3

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data,

1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

17.0

21.5

17.8

20.7

18.2

20.4

18.7

20.3

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

Minority Enrollment Percentages

 Less than 5% 5% - <20% 20% - <50% 50% or more

Figure 13.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of minority 

enrollment

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School 

District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

44
School-age children in poverty. Schools in high poverty districts have less to spend,

and they sacrifice capital outlay first, allocating a larger percentage of their expenditures to core

instruction. As shown in table 15, districts with higher percentages of students in poverty

allocate larger percentages of total expenditures to core instructional activities (62.6 percent

versus 59.4 percent). In the area of capital expenditures, the lowest poverty districts outspend

the highest poverty districts by 76.7 percent ($795 versus $450) in adjusted dollars.

Table 15.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of school-age children in

poverty

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

School-Age Children in Poverty

 Less than 5% 59.4 25.4 15.3 $3,092 $1,322 $795

 5% - <15% 60.3 25.3 14.4 2,587 1,084 618

 15% - <25% 61.1 26.0 13.0 2,444 1,039 520

 25% or more 62.6 26.3 11.1 2,531 1,063 450

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

This type of finding raises some important questions regarding the difference between

rich and poor schools. The percentages of total expenditures allocated to core instruction and

administration and support do not vary as much as expenditures on grounds, buildings, and

equipment. If these expenditures are viewed as providing more seating for the football

stadium, tennis courts, and swimming pools, many would not consider them to be critical

instructional expenditures and therefore might argue that expenditure differentials in these areas

are likely to have relatively little impact on instructional outcomes. However, if they are

viewed as resulting in serious gaps in such items as computers and science laboratory

equipment between rich and poor schools, or if they are viewed in the form of dilapidated and

poorly maintained buildings, the concerns become more difficult to dismiss and seem to

45
reinforce the images portrayed in books describing differences between rich and poor schools

(e.g., Savage Inequalities). Without more detailed information, it is impossible to say to what

extent these capital differences represent important gaps in critical education resources.

The student/teacher ratios shown in table 16 and figure 14 below also accentuate the

differing resource levels between schools in high and low poverty districts. While the actual

ratios are only smaller in the lowest poverty districts, on a student-need-adjusted basis,

student/teacher ratios are shown to rise steadily with increased school poverty. The

multivariate student-need-adjusted student/teacher ratio results show a differential of 9.3 percent

(19.4 versus 21.2) between the lowest and the highest poverty districts: This is much smaller

than the adjusted core instruction expenditure differential noted for these two groups (22.2

percent). This shows that although higher poverty districts spend a substantially smaller

amount of core expenditures per student than low poverty districts, student/teacher ratios do not

differ to the same degree.

Table 16.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of school-age children in poverty

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

School-Age Children in Poverty

 Less than 5% 11.3 16.7 18.4 17.1 19.4

 5% - <15% 36.1 18.3 20.7 17.9 20.5

 15% - <25% 26.4 18.1 21.0 18.1 20.9

 25% or more 26.1 17.9 21.3 18.2 21.2

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

46
Limited English proficient (LEP) children. As shown in table 17, students in districts

16.7

19.4 18.3

20.5

18.1

20.9

17.9

21.2

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

Poverty Percentages

 Less than 5% 5% - <15% 15% - <25% 25% or more

Figure 14.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of school-age 

children in poverty

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

with the highest percentages of LEP students also allocate larger percentages of expenditure to

core instructional services; this comes at the expense of administration and capital outlay. In

terms of expenditures per student, the districts with the largest percentages of LEP students

spend 2.7 percent more ($2,608 versus $2,539) on core instruction, 20.0 percent less ($940

versus $1,175) on administration, and 20.0 percent less ($495 versus $619) on capital outlay. 

47
Table 17.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of limited English proficient

children

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Limited English Proficient Children

 0% 58.6 27.1 14.3 $2,539 $1,175 $619

 >0% - <5% 60.2 26.3 13.6 2,593 1,131 584

 5% or more 64.5 23.3 12.2 2,608 940 495

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

Bivariate results in table 18 (columns 1 and 2) show that student/teacher ratios rise

steadily with percentage LEP. On a student-need-adjusted basis, this ratio is 25.9 percent larger

(23.3 versus 18.5) for districts in communities in which the largest percentages of LEP children

reside than for their counterparts with the lowest percentages of LEP children. This pattern is

not as pronounced in the multivariate results (figure 15).

Table 18.-- Student/teacher ratios by percentage of limited English proficient children

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Limited English Proficient Children

 0% 9.3 16.2 18.5 18.0 20.6

 >0% - <5% 69.4 17.6 20.2 17.8 20.5

 5% or more 21.3 19.7 23.3 18.3 21.3

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

48
16.2

20.6

17.6

20.5 19.7 21.3

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

Limited English Proficient

 0% >0% - <5% 5% or more

Figure 15.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by percentage of limited 

English proficient children

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

School-age at-risk children. Similar to districts serving students in poverty, districts

serving the largest percentages of students at-risk have somewhat fewer dollars to spend

overall, as shown in table 19. They also allocate a larger percentage of their expenditures to

core instructional services (61.8 percent versus 60.2 percent) at the expense of capital outlay

(12.1 percent versus 14.3 percent). However, despite the greater outlay for instruction as a

percentage of total expenditures, districts serving the highest percentages of at-risk students still

spend less in adjusted dollars for core instructional services. The greatest area of disparity is

again in capital outlay, where districts serving the highest percentages of at-risk students spend

only 76.4 percent ($492 versus $644) as much as districts with the lowest percentages of at-risk

students. (See tables A7.1 and A12 for student/teacher ratios by percentage of school-age atrisk children.)

49
Table 19.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by percentage of school-age at-risk children

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

School-Age At-Risk Children

 Less than 3% 60.2 25.5 14.3 $2,704 $1,145 $644

 3% - <5% 61.1 25.7 13.3 2,470 1,038 537

 5% or more 61.8 26.0 12.1 2,509 1,056 492

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

District enrollment. As shown in table 20, the nation's smallest districts spend the

largest percentage of expenditures on administration. This trend seems to be in keeping with

the administrative economies that would be expected to be associated with scale. The existence

of such administrative economies also seems to be supported by the adjusted expenditure data. 

Although the small districts spend more in all three areas, expenditure differentials by district

size are less pronounced in the area of core instruction.

Smaller districts also have lower student/teacher ratios. As shown in table 21 and figure

16, in actual terms, the student/teacher ratio in the largest districts is 24.5 percent higher than in

the smallest ones (18.8 versus 15.1). In multivariate student-need-adjusted terms, the

student/teacher ratio is 20.9 percent higher (21.4 versus 17.7).

50
Table 20.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by district enrollment

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

District Enrollment

 0 - 999 57.4 27.5 15.0 $2,678 $1,284 $701

 1,000 - 4,999 60.7 26.3 12.9 2,631 1,142 561

 5,000 - 9,999 62.4 25.3 12.4 2,616 1,060 518

 10,000 or more 61.2 25.1 13.7 2,543 1,043 569

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations

Table 21.-- Student/teacher ratios by district enrollment

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

District Enrollment

 0 - 999 7.2 15.1 17.3 15.3 17.7

 1,000 - 4,999 30.9 17.3 19.6 17.6 20.3

 5,000 - 9,999 16.2 18.0 20.6 18.1 20.8

 10,000 or more 45.7 18.8 22.0 18.5 21.4

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to missing

categorization information for some observations.

51
15.1

17.3 17.7

20.3

18.0

20.8

18.8

21.4

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

District Enrollment

 0 - 999 1,000 - 4,999 5,000 - 9,999 10,000 or more

Figure 16.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by district enrollment

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of 

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

District type. Since elementary, secondary, and unified school districts are quite distinct

from one another, and since the sample of elementary and secondary districts is quite small in

relation to the vast majority of unified districts, it is not surprising to see that resource

allocation patterns vary across these three types of districts (table 22). Secondary districts

spend a larger percentage of expenditures on core instruction, unified districts a higher

percentage on general administration, and elementary districts substantially more on capital

outlay. In terms of adjusted expenditures per student, the secondary districts spend the most in

the first two areas, with the elementary districts spending 74.3 percent more than their unified

counterparts on capital outlay ($978 versus $561). (See tables A7.1 and A12 for

student/teacher ratios by district type.)

52
Table 22.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by district type

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

District Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

District Type

 Elementary 57.4 20.2 22.3 $2,517 $ 887 $978

 Secondary 62.7 23.7 13.6 3,221 1,217 696

 Unified 60.9 25.8 13.3 2,578 1,093 561

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

Detailed findings by community characteristics.

Metropolitan status. Urban districts tend to allocate a larger percentage of expenditures

to instruction, the rural districts more to administration, and the suburban districts more to

capital outlay (table 23). The biggest differential among these three types of districts appears

to be in the area of capital outlay, where the suburban districts outspend their counterparts by

approximately 25 to 31 percent.

Urban and suburban districts also have larger student/teacher ratios than their rural

counterparts in actual terms (18.3 versus 17.0). As shown in table 24, this differential is

greatest between urban and rural districts in student-need-adjusted terms (10.2 percent, 21.6

versus 19.6). In multivariate student-need-adjusted terms, suburban districts have higher

student/teacher ratios than their urban and rural counterparts (figure 17).

53
Table 23.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by metropolitan status

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

Community Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Metropolitan Status

 Urban/central cities 62.9 25.4 11.7 $2,640 $1,066 $489

 Suburban/metropolitan 60.1 25.3 14.7 2,636 1,110 643

 Rural 60.5 26.9 12.6 2,459 1,092 513

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to missing

categorization information for some observations. 

Table 24.-- Student/teacher ratios by metropolitan status

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Metropolitan Status

 Urban/central cities 26.7 18.3 21.6 17.7 20.5

 Suburban/metropolitan 47.4 18.3 20.7 18.2 21.0

 Rural 25.9 17.0 19.6 17.7 20.4

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

54
18.3

20.5

18.3

21.0

17.0

20.4

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

Metropolitan Status

 Urban/central cities Suburban/metropolitan Rural

Figure 17.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by metropolitan status

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 

1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Geographic region. As shown in table 25, public education expenditures in the

Northeast well outdistance the other regions of the country. Conversely, the expenditure

patterns in the West are the lowest and are somewhat distinctive from those of the other

regions. Although the western states have less to spend overall, by using a greater percentage

of their funds for core instruction, their expenditures in this area are comparable with districts

in the Midwest and South. In adjusted dollars, the Northeast outspends the next highest region,

the Midwest, by nearly 30 percent in the area of core instruction ($3,339 versus $2,579), by

13.7 percent for administration ($1,371 versus $1,206), and by 16.8 percent in the area of

capital outlay ($673 versus $576).

55
Just as expenditure differentials are striking across regions, so are the differences in

student/teacher ratios (see table 26). In actual terms, the Northeast stands out from the

Midwest and South, which stand out from the West. In multivariate student-need-adjusted

terms, the West stands alone at a ratio of 25.1 as compared to an average of about 19 for the

other three regions (figure 18).

Table 25.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by geographic region

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

Community Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Geographic Region

 Northeast 62.0 25.5 12.5 $3,339 $1,371 $673

 Midwest 59.1 27.7 13.2 2,579 1,206 576

 South 59.6 26.5 13.9 2,354 1,045 549

 West 64.3 22.2 13.6 2,410 831 508

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

Table 26.-- Student/teacher ratios by geographic region

Bivariate Results Multivariate Results

Student-NeedPercentage of Student-Need- Unadjusted Adjusted

District Characteristic Enrollment Actual Adjusted Estimates Estimates 

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Geographic Region

 Northeast 16.9 15.6 17.8 15.4 17.7

 Midwest 24.6 17.3 19.4 17.7 20.2

 South 36.4 17.1 20.0 17.0 19.7

 West 22.1 21.9 25.5 21.7 25.1

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of

Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I). 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

56
15.6 17.3 17.7

20.2

17.1

19.7

21.9

25.1

Bivariate

Actual 

Multivariate

Student-Need-Adjusted

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

Student/Teacher Ratio

Geographic Region

 Northeast Midwest South West

Figure 18.-- Actual and adjusted student/teacher ratios by geographic region

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Median household income (cost-adjusted). As shown in table 27, districts in

communities with the highest cost-adjusted median household incomes have the highest

adjusted public education expenditures per student. Although these districts tend to spend

about the same percentage of their funds as others on core instruction, they allocate a higher

percentage of their funds to capital outlay. In terms of adjusted expenditures, districts in

communities in the highest adjusted income category outspend their lowest income counterparts

by 19.0 percent in the area of instruction ($2,868 versus $2,410), 10.7 percent for

administration ($1,188 versus $1,073), and 79.1 percent for capital outlay ($736 versus $411). 

The spending differential in the area of capital outlay increases steadily as the categories of

median household income increase. For the two other areas of expenditure, the biggest

differences are between the highest income communities and all others. (See tables A7.2 and

A12 for student/teacher ratios by median household income [cost adjusted].)

57
Table 27.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by median household income

(cost-adjusted)

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

Community Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Median Household Income (cost-adjusted)

 Less than $20,000 61.9 27.6 10.6 $2,410 $1,073 $411

 $20,000 - <$25,000 62.0 26.2 11.9 2,541 1,074 486

 $25,000 - <$30,000 61.1 25.7 13.2 2,490 1,049 539

 $30,000 - <$35,000 60.0 25.2 14.8 2,603 1,091 643

 $35,000 or more 59.8 24.8 15.4 2,868 1,188 736

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

Median value owner-occupied housing. Although low wealth (housing) districts spend

less per student on education, their general administration and support expenditures are slightly

higher than in the higher wealth districts, as shown in table 28. This finding reinforces

concerns that administrative costs are higher in low wealth districts due to the added need for

such support services as security, maintenance, and repair. Spending for core instruction and

capital outlay tend to suffer in the low wealth districts. (See tables A7.2 and A12 for

student/teacher ratios by median value owner-occupied housing.)

58
Table 28.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by median value owner-occupied housing

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

Community Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Median Value Owner-Occupied Housing

 Less than $40,000 61.1 28.3 10.7 $2,378 $1,102 $415

 $40,000 - <$55,000 61.4 27.4 11.2 2,423 1,081 443

 $55,000 - <$85,000 59.7 26.0 14.4 2,480 1,080 597

 $85,000 or more 61.7 24.1 14.3 2,847 1,110 658

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations. 

Education attainment of householders. Districts in communities with the highest

percentages of high school graduates spend more in all three categories of expenditure.

However, as shown in table 29, the bulk of the extra spending is in capital outlay and core

instruction, not in general administration and support. (See tables A7.2 and A12 for

student/teacher ratios by education attainment of householders.)

59
Table 29.-- Percentage and total adjusted expenditures by function, by education attainment of householders

Cost- and NeedPercentage Expenditures for Adjusted Expenditures for

Core General Admin. Capital Core General Admin. Capital

Community Characteristic Instruction and Support Outlay Instruction and Support Outlay

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Education Attainment of Householders

 Less than 65% high school graduates 62.2 26.8 11.0 2,347 1,013 416

 65% - <75% high school graduates 61.5 26.2 12.3 2,576 1,096 516

 75% - <85% high school graduates 60.4 25.8 13.8 2,613 1,117 598

 85% or more high school graduates 60.0 24.1 15.9 2,808 1,128 745

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding and

missing categorization information for some observations.

How Do Local, State, and Federal Revenues Vary for School Districts Serving Different Types

of Students and Communities?

Our national constitution leaves public education under the authority of the states. In

response, all 50 state constitutions contain clauses describing the rights of its school-age

citizens to a public education. Whereas public education was funded primarily from local

sources until the last 30 years, state contributions have gradually increased over time. 

Although the balance between local and state revenues varies considerably across the states, in

school year 1989-90, state funds for public education across the nation exceeded those from

local sources (47.3 percent versus 46.6 percent, Office of Educational Research and

Improvement 1994). The expanding state role came as a result of greater demands for funding

equalization, increased recognition of the supplemental education needs of certain student

populations, and greater realization of the limitations of property taxes as a primary vehicle for

supporting education.

The federal government has always been a limited partner in the area of public

education, with a revenue share of 6 percent in fiscal year 1990. Chapter 1 of the Elementary

and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which was a key component of President

Johnson’s war on poverty, was the first major effort to supplement public elementary and

secondary education funding at the federal level. A second major federal program providing

60
support to public education, which is of particular importance to this analysis, is the Individuals

with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In keeping with the role that the federal government

has assumed in support of public education, both of these major programs target special

populations of students. Chapter 1 of ESEA targets federal funds to districts serving students

in poverty, while IDEA provides supplemental funding for special education students.

The primary roles of local, state, and federal sources have always differed somewhat. 

Local funds have traditionally been thought of as providing the basic foundation of general

education support. With increased emphasis on equity and adequacy issues across the states,

state funding formulas have aimed to enhance funding equalization in the state and to ensure

the provision of some level of adequate or appropriate services. Federal funding sources are

almost exclusively targeted toward special needs, to ensure the provision of services for special

categories of students.

Given these distinctive local, state, and federal roles, how are different types of school

districts and communities supported by local, state, and federal funding sources? Where do

federal dollars go? Are greater levels of federal funds found in districts serving high

percentages of students in poverty, as intended? To what extent do state funds provide an

equalizing effect, and how does this vary by type of community and the students who reside

there? How do these three funding sources interact in various settings?

Summary of findings.

The amount of local support for public education rises with the wealth and

socioeconomic condition of the community.

State funds are the primary equalizing force in public education resource

allocations. Although this is in keeping with the expected state role, overall the

degree of adjustment from state sources appears insufficient to fully offset the

impact of local wealth.

 

61
Although state and federal allocations are larger in absolute terms in districts

with large numbers of special education, poverty, and LEP students, it appears

that these additional funds may be insufficient to offset the supplemental costs of

serving these students.

Detailed findings by district characteristics.

Minority enrollment. Because minority students are located disproportionately in urban

areas where costs are high, the adjusted numbers are especially appropriate for differentiating

between local, state, and federal purchasing power as percentage minority changes. The highest

minority districts show the lowest level of funds from local sources and the highest level of

funds from state and federal aid programs. In adjusted terms, local funds drop substantially

from $2,126 in districts with the lowest minority enrollment to $1,425 in districts with the

highest minority enrollment, while the amount of state funding only increases somewhat with

minority enrollment. Although there are considerably more federal funds in high minority

districts, total revenues are the lowest. (See figures 19 and 20.)

62
$4,966 $5,097 $4,983

$5,379

$4,321 $4,290 $4,113 $4,025

<5% 5%-

<20%

20%-

<50%

50%+

Minority

<5% 5%-

<20%

20%-

<50%

50%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $2,443 $2,584 $2,184 $1,904 $2,126 $2,175 $1,801 $1,425

 State $2,319 $2,304 $2,495 $2,969 $2,018 $1,939 $2,061 $2,222

 Federal $204 $209 $304 $506 $177 $176 $251 $378

Figure 19.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of minority 

enrollment

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

School-age children in poverty. As wealthy communities are better able, and perhaps

more inclined, to provide local revenues in support of public education services, it is not

surprising to see a substantial negative relation between local revenues per student and the

percentage of school-age children in poverty. In both actual and adjusted terms, local

revenues per student for districts with low percentages of students in poverty are more than

double those for districts in the highest poverty category. 

Across the nation, state revenues are allocated in a way that offsets the substantial

disparities found in local funding levels. However, while state funding sources clearly act as a

counterbalance to varying levels of local funding, these sources do not fully offset the local

63
fund

Local 49.2%

State 46.7%

Federal 4.1%

Local 50.7%

State 45.2%

Federal 4.1%

Local 43.8%

State 50.1%

Federal 6.1%

Local 35.4%

State 55.2%

Federal 9.4%

Less than 5% 

minority enrollment

5% - <20% 

minority enrollment

20% - <50% 

minority enrollment

50% or more 

minority enrollment

Figure 20.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of 

minority enrollment

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. 

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data.

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

ing

level

s. 

As

sho

wn

in

figur

e 21,

educ

ation

fund

s

from

state

and

local

sour

ces

in the lowest poverty category of districts exceed funding in districts enrolling the highest

percentages of children in poverty by 38.6 percent in actual terms ($6,310 versus $4,552) and

by 40.8 percent in adjusted dollars ($5,001 versus $3,552).

In percentage terms, federal funding allocations have a much stronger equalizing

influence against differences in poverty. Federal funds in high poverty districts exceed those in

low poverty districts by more than a multiple of four (figure 22). This is not surprising, as the

major federal education funding program is poverty driven. However, because these federal

allocations are relatively small, overall funding differentials of 27 percent in actual terms

($5,063 versus $6,432) and 29 percent in adjusted terms ($3,951 versus $5,098) between high

and low poverty districts remain (figure 21).

64
$6,432

$5,043

$4,680

$5,063 $5,098

$4,225 $3,955 $3,951

<5% 5%-

<15%

15%-

<25%

25%+ 

Poverty

<5% 5%-

<15%

15%-

<25%

25%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

Local State Federal

Local $4,297 $2,448 $1,858 $1,752 $3,405 $2,051 $1,570 $1,367

State $2,013 $2,398 $2,518 $2,800 $1,596 $2,009 $2,128 $2,185

Federal $122 $197 $304 $511 $97 $165 $257 $399

Figure 21.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of school-age 

children in poverty

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Although local revenues provide two-thirds of the total support received in low poverty

districts, local revenues constitute about only one-third of total funding in high poverty districts

(see figure 22). As poverty increases, the state funding share rises from 31.3 to 55.3 percent,

while federal funding jumps from less than 1.9 percent to 10.1 percent.

65
Speci

Local 66.8%

State 31.3%

Federal 1.9%

Local 48.5%

State 47.5%

Federal 3.9%

Local 39.7%

State 53.8%

Federal 6.5%

Local 34.6%

State 55.3%

Federal 10.1%

Figure 22.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of 

school-age children in poverty

Less than 5% poverty 5% - <15% poverty

15% - <25% poverty 25% or more poverty

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. 

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census 

School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

al

educ

ation

stude

nts.

Alth

ough

avera

ge

state

dolla

rs

per

stude

nt

are

some

what

higher in districts with high percentages of special education students, the opposite occurs in

adjusted terms (figure 23). Since all of the states have supplemental funding programs for

special education students, a positive relationship between percentage special education and

state revenues is not surprising. The fact that this trend is reversed in adjusted terms, however,

suggests that these supplemental state funds may not be sufficient to offset the supplemental

costs of these services. State funds do not fully compensate the need ratio of 2.3 for special

education students used in this study.

66
Of course, the federal government also has a program designed to assist with

$4,997 $4,910

$5,390

$4,635

$3,960 $4,226

<3% 3%-<10% 10%+

Special

Education

<3% 3%-<10% 10%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $2,371 $2,079 $2,479 $2,199 $1,677 $1,944

 State $2,371 $2,536 $2,571 $2,199 $2,045 $2,016

 Federal $255 $295 $340 $237 $238 $266

Figure 23.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of special 

education students

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

supplemental special education costs. Although federal special education funds are less than

the amount of state dollars set aside for these purposes, this analysis suggests that federal funds

may be more responsive to changes in special education student identification rates across

districts. This is shown by the fact that in the adjusted analysis, federal dollars per student rise

with percentage special education, while state dollars per student decline. The greater

responsiveness of federal dollars may be due to the fact that federal special education funding

is driven solely by the identification rate, while most state formulas are affected by such other

factors as the degree of severity associated with the students’ conditions. Because the number

of severely disabled students may not increase proportionately with overall increases in the

percentage of identified students, state formulas may be less sensitive to fluctuation in overall

counts of students with disabilities. 

67
Local

47.4%

State

47.4%

Federal

5.1%

Local

42.3%

State

51.7%

Federal

6.0%

Local

46.0%

State

47.7%

Federal

6.3%

Less than 3% 3% - <10% 10% or more%

Figure 24.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of 

special education students

Special Education Students

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data. 

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

68
Limited English proficient (LEP) children. As shown in figures 25 and 26, districts

with the highest percentages of LEP students receive somewhat lower levels of local revenues

and somewhat higher levels of state revenues. In most cases, however, large revenue differentials are only shown for the districts enrolling over 5 percent LEP students (21.6 percent of all

students are in these districts). The federal revenue differential is larger for these districts than

in those with fewer LEP students both in actual and adjusted terms. This trend reflects the

federal role of providing supplemental support to students with special learning needs.

$4,913 $5,038

$5,433

$4,292 $4,238 $3,956

0% >0%-<5% 5%+

LEP

0% >0%-<5% 5%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $2,221 $2,348 $2,065 $1,940 $1,975 $1,503

 State $2,407 $2,413 $2,950 $2,103 $2,030 $2,148

 Federal $285 $277 $418 $249 $233 $305

Figure 25.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of limited English 

proficient children

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

School-age at-risk children. Similar to the situation in districts serving students in

poverty, local revenues are lower and state and federal revenues are higher in districts with

69
larger percentages of students at risk (figures 27 and 28). Federal dollars are more than twice

Local

45.2%

State

49.0%

Federal

5.8%

Local

46.6%

State

47.9%

Federal

5.5%

Local

38.0%

State

54.3%

Federal

7.7%

0% >0% - <5% 5% or More

Figure 26.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of 

limited English proficient children

Limited English Proficient Children

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

as plentiful in districts with the highest percentages of students at risk as compared to districts

with the lowest percentages of at-risk students ($444 versus $186 in actual dollars). State

dollars are 17.9 percent more in actual terms and 11.8 percent greater in adjusted dollars. 

Local

52.6%

State

43.9%

Federal

3.5%

Local

41.5%

State

52.5%

Federal

6.0%

Local

36.7%

State

54.5%

Federal

8.8%

Less than 3% 3% - <5% 5% or more

Figure 28.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of 

school-age at-risk children

At-Risk Children

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

70
De

$5,312

$4,696

$5,044

$4,422

$3,978 $3,984

<3% 3%-<5% 5%+

At-Risk

<3% 3%-<5% 5%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $2,794 $1,949 $1,851 $2,326 $1,651 $1,462

 State $2,332 $2,465 $2,749 $1,941 $2,088 $2,171

 Federal $186 $282 $444 $155 $239 $351

Figure 27.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by percentage of school-age 

at-risk children

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

tail

ed

fin

din

gs

by

co

m

mu

nit

y

ch

ara

cte

rist

ics. 

Me

tropolitan status. In percentage terms, suburban districts receive more support from local

sources than other districts, while rural districts receive more support from state sources and

urban districts receive more federal support than other districts. The rural districts are also

fairly large recipients of federal funds in relation to their suburban counterparts. While the

suburban districts receive somewhat less state and federal funds, in adjusted dollars, they more

than make up for it through local resource differentials. Overall, the suburban districts receive

the greatest levels of adjusted revenues, while the urban districts receive the most when viewed

in terms of actual dollars. (See figures 29 and 30.)

71
Geographic region. As overall revenues differ so greatly across the four regions of the

$5,340 $5,334

$4,462

$4,103 $4,310 $4,029

Urban/

Central

Cities

Suburban/

Metropolitan

Rural

Metro.

Status

Urban/

Central

Cities

Suburban/

Metropolitan

Rural

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $2,232 $2,651 $1,701 $1,715 $2,142 $1,539

 State $2,686 $2,464 $2,426 $2,064 $1,991 $2,188

 Federal $422 $219 $335 $324 $177 $302

Figure 29.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by metropolitan status

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

country (revenues in the Northeast exceeding the next most highly funded region by over

$2,000 per student in actual dollars and nearly $1,000 in adjusted terms), it is interesting to

trace these large differentials by revenue source. As shown in figures 31 and 32, very different

patterns of support are observed across the regions. For example, it is interesting to note that

the West, with the lowest overall adjusted revenues per student, receives the greatest share of

support from state sources. 

72
The major source of the overall revenue differential is in the provision of local funds for

Local

41.8%

State

50.3%

Federal

7.9%

Local

49.7%

State

46.2%

Federal

4.1%

Local

38.2%

State

54.3%

Federal

7.5%

Urban/central

cities

Suburban/

metropolitan

Rural

Figure 30.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by metropolitan 

status

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data.

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

Local 55.2%

State 40.4%

Federal 4.4%

Local 54.0%

State 41.5%

Federal 4.5%

Local 40.2%

State 52.1%

Federal 7.7%

Local 33.3%

State 60.5%

Federal 6.2%

Northeast Midwest

South West

Figure 32.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by geographic region

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department 

of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

education. The West and the South fall well behind the Midwest and the Northeast in this

73
regard, with the average local contribution in the West equalling only 42 percent ($1,233 versus

$7,168

$4,961

$4,433

$4,795

$5,317

$4,334

$3,833 $3,708

Northeast Midwest South West

Region

Northeast Midwest South West

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $3,957 $2,679 $1,780 $1,595 $2,935 $2,340 $1,539 $1,233

 State $2,896 $2,059 $2,312 $2,903 $2,148 $1,799 $1,999 $2,245

 Federal $315 $223 $341 $297 $234 $195 $295 $230

Figure 31.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by geographic region

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

$2,935) of the average local contribution in the Northeast in adjusted terms. Thus, while the

state contribution in the West appears much larger than for the Northeast in percentage terms

(60.5 percent versus 40.4 percent), the dollar differential is really quite small ($2,245 versus

$2,148) in adjusted dollars. The South is clearly the largest beneficiary of federal funds for

education. 

Median household income (cost-adjusted). As shown in figures 33 and 34, while total

education revenues across middle income categories do not vary a great deal, a substantial

difference is shown between the lowest and highest income categories ($5,787 versus $4, 690). 

It is also at the extreme income categories that the local revenue differential becomes quite

large, with high income communities outspending their lowest income counterparts by more

74
than twofold in both actual and adjusted terms. State aid offsets this with a differential in state

dollars between the richest and the poorest districts of over 30 percent in adjusted terms

($1,747 versus $2,304). Once again, federal dollars are heavily weighted in favor of lower

income communities, with federal funding nearly quadrupling between the highest and lowest

income categories of districts in adjusted terms ($113 versus $446).

$4,690

$5,042 $4,770

$5,181

$5,787

$3,843 $4,028 $4,021 $4,269

$4,691

<$20K $20K -

<$25K

$25K -

<$30K

$30K -

<$35K

$35K+

Income

<$20K $20K -

<$25K

$25K -

<$30K

$30K -

<$35K

$35K+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $1,333 $1,911 $2,070 $2,505 $3,493 $1,093 $1,527 $1,745 $2,064 $2,831

 State $2,812 $2,733 $2,423 $2,469 $2,155 $2,304 $2,183 $2,043 $2,034 $1,747

 Federal $545 $398 $277 $207 $139 $446 $318 $233 $171 $113

Figure 33.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by median household income 

(cost-adjusted)

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation 

(summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Median value owner-occupied housing. As shown in figures 35 and 36, relatively little

wealth equalization in relation to housing values comes from state aid; in adjusted terms, only

75
6.2 percent more state dollars go to the lowest wealth districts ($2,206 versus $2,078) than to

Local

28.4%

State

60.0%

Federal

11.6%

Local

37.9%

State

54.2%

Federal

7.9%

Local

43.4%

State

50.8%

Federal

5.8%

Local

48.4%

State

47.7%

Federal

4.0%

Local

60.4%

State

37.2%

Federal

2.4%

Less than $20,000

median income

$20,000 - <$25,000

median income

$25,000 - <$30,000

median income

$30,000 - <$35,000

median income

 $35,000 or more

median income

Figure 34.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by median household 

income (cost-adjusted)

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

the highest wealth districts. In percentage terms, federal funds show much greater equalizing

effects, with federal dollars increasing over 50 percent between the high and low housing value

districts.

76
Education attainment of householders. Districts with the lowest average education

$4,408 $4,455 $4,691

$6,060

$3,863 $3,905 $4,061

$4,537

<$40K $40K -

<$55K

$55K -

<$85K

$85K+

Housing

Value

<$40K $40K-

<$55K

$55K -

<$85K

$85K+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $1,477 $1,729 $2,158 $3,024 $1,294 $1,515 $1,868 $2,264

 State $2,517 $2,392 $2,261 $2,775 $2,206 $2,097 $1,957 $2,078

 Federal $414 $334 $272 $261 $363 $293 $236 $195

Figure 35.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by median value of 

owner-occupied housing

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

attainment show the least support from local revenues and the most from state and federal

sources in both actual and adjusted terms (figures 37 and 38).

To What Extent Do Education Resource Measures Vary Across the Nation?

Perhaps the primary social commodity guaranteed to the nation’s children is their right

to a free public education. Because of this, and because of education’s strong association with

opportunities throughout life, there is a longstanding interest in the fairness with which public

77
education resources are allocated. Since the major responsibility for public education lies with

Local 33.5%

State 57.1%

Federal 9.4%

Local 38.8%

State 53.7%

Federal 7.5%

Local 46.0%

State 48.2%

Federal 5.8%

Local 49.9%

State 45.8%

Federal 4.3%

Less than $40,000

median housing value

$40,000 - <$55,000

median housing value

$55,000 - <$85,000

median housing value

$85,000 or more

median housing value

Figure 36.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by median value 

owner-occupied housing

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

the states, this interest has focused primarily on the degree of variation in average expenditures

per student both within and across states. States in which the average education expenditure is

similar in all districts are considered to have more equitable allocation systems than states with

large district-to-district expenditure variations. To what degree is there similarity in education

expenditure patterns across the nation?

78
Summary of findings. 

$4,448

$5,122 $5,161

$5,630

$3,727 $4,122 $4,258 $4,572

<65% 65%-

<75%

75%-

<85%

85%+

High

School

Graduates 

<65% 65%-

<75%

75% - 

<85%

85%+

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

$8,000

 Local State Federal

 Local $1,299 $2,136 $2,477 $3,274 $1,088 $1,719 $2,044 $2,659

 State $2,709 $2,638 $2,436 $2,181 $2,270 $2,123 $2,010 $1,771

 Federal $440 $348 $248 $175 $369 $280 $204 $142

Figure 37.-- Local, state, and federal revenue shares by education attainment of 

householders

Actual Cost- and Need-Adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-90 Common Core of Data, 1990 Census School District Special 

Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Across the nation, the distribution of public education resources is substantially

more equalized than wealth as measured in the form of housing values, and

somewhat more equalized than variations in household income. 

State public education allocation systems are the primary equalizing factors of

education resources, with some additional equalization resulting from the various

federal funding programs. 

Detailed findings. Broad interest in comparing expenditures has led to questions about

how variation in expenditures should be measured. Six alternative measures of dispersion are

commonly used in conducting equity analyses (Berne and Stiefel 1984). (See Appendix D for

79
discussion of these measures and their utility.) For the following discussion, the degree of

Local 29.2%

State 60.9%

Federal 9.9%

Local 41.7%

State 51.5%

Federal 6.8%

Local 48.0%

State 47.2%

Federal 4.8%

Local 58.2%

State 38.7%

Federal 3.1%

Less than 65% 

h.s. graduates

65% - <75% 

h.s. graduates

75% - <85% 

h.s. graduates

85% or more 

h.s. graduates

Figure 38.-- Actual local, state, and federal revenue shares by education 

attainment of householders

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

difference in resources is measured by the federal range ratio and the coefficient of variation. 

As opposed to the range, the federal range ratio is less influenced by extreme outlyers. It

indicates how many times greater the resources are at the high end of the distribution than at

the low end. In contrast to range measures, the coefficient of variation takes into account all

observations. It is a measure of the standard deviation expressed as a percentage of the mean. 

It is also a measure of dispersion with larger numbers meaning greater dispersion (less equity)

and smaller numbers meaning less dispersion (greater equity).

Education equity can be measured in terms of horizontal and vertical equity. Horizontal

equity assumes that all students should receive equal resources. Measures of dispersion that

employ this principal are found in tables 30 and 31 on the “actual” rows. On the other hand,

80
under the vertical equity principal (which calls for students with varying levels of identifiable

education needs to systematically receive varying levels of education resources), differences in

education resources between districts are expected when one district enrolls a larger percentage

of special needs students (e.g., special education, LEP, or at-risk) than another. A vertical

equity standard reflects the belief that supplemental education resources are necessary to meet

the special or additional needs of these students. The vertical equity principal is reflected in

the student-need adjustments included in the “cost- and need-adjusted” rows of tables 30 and

31. Overall, these rows show differences in district “buying power” in relation to varying

resource costs and student needs as opposed to the actual, or nominal, dollar amounts.

The strong equalizing influence of state revenues is shown by the decline in variation

observed when state revenues are added to local revenues (table 30). Although local revenues

alone show a coefficient of variation of 69.0, this figure drops to 32.8 when state revenues are

added. These measures show that disparities in public school district spending are substantially

reduced through the addition of state public education funds. Beyond this, federal revenues

continue this equalizing pattern, although not to a great degree (with a coefficient of variation

for total revenues of 31.4). These findings hold for the actual (horizontal equity) and the

adjusted (vertical equity) rows of table 30.

This finding shows that state resource allocation systems make a substantial contribution

to the overall equalization of revenues across districts. The relatively small additional federal

contribution to overall equalization is not surprising, as this has never been a specific federal

goal. Rather than overall equalization, federal funding programs are intended to support

services for specific categorical populations of students.

81
Table 30.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted local, local and state, and total revenues

Federal Range Ratio Coefficient of Variation

Local Revenues

 Actual 8.0 69.0

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 7.5 64.5

Local and State Revenues

 Actual 1.7 32.8

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.3 28.0

Total Revenues

 Actual 1.5 31.4

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.2 26.2

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-1990 Common Core of Data, 1990

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

Another finding from this study is that less variation is found in student/teacher ratios

than in expenditure levels (table 31). This shows that access to classroom teachers is less

disparate than indicated by measures of overall education expenditures.

Public education resources are more equally allocated across the country than income or

wealth (housing values). However, as highlighted in table 32, total education expenditures are

only slightly more equalized than distributions of income. Both of these measures are

distributed substantially more evenly than housing values. When variations in student/teacher

ratios, rather than total education expenditures, are compared to income and housing values,

this core education resource measure is distributed much more evenly than either of these two

measures of wealth.

82
Table 31.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted total, current operating, and core instructional

expenditures, and student/teacher ratios

Federal Range Ratio Coefficient of Variation

Total Expenditures

 Actual 1.6 31.6

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.3 26.9

Current Operating Expenditures

 Actual 1.5 31.0

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.2 25.0

Core Instructional Expenditures

 Actual 1.7 31.5

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.2 24.5

Student/Teacher ratios

 Actual 0.9 18.3

 Student-need-adjusted 0.9 19.1

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-1990 Common Core of Data, 1990

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment. 

Table 32.-- Measures of dispersion for actual and adjusted total expenditures and wealth measures

Federal Range Ratio Coefficient of Variation

Total Expenditures

 Actual 1.6 31.6

 Cost- and student-need-adjusted 1.3 26.9

Median Household Income (actual) 1.9 34.4

Median Value Owner-Occupied Housing 5.7 69.6

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Governments, Survey of Local Government Finances; U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989-1990 Common Core of Data, 1990

Census School District Special Tabulation (summary file set I).

NOTE: All results are weighted by district enrollment.

83
Summary of Findings

Four important policy questions that relate to the financing of public education have

been addressed in this report. A summary of the findings for each follows.

How do education resource measures, such as total expenditures per student, vary in

different types of school districts and communities across the nation? There is a positive

relationship between expenditures and wealth whether wealth is measured by the percentage of

children in poverty, household income, or housing values. However, this relationship is only

consistently observed across all of the categories of housing values. For the other two wealth

variables, higher expenditures are only found for the highest income and the lowest poverty

districts. The general inverse relationship between expenditures and wealth is offset by

findings relating to other socioeconomic variables relating to equity. For example, no clear

expenditure differentials are found for limited English proficient and at-risk students, and a

positive relationship is found between expenditures and the percentage of minority students. It

is also important to note that expenditure differentials are only shown for districts enrolling the

lowest percentages of students in poverty (less than 5 percent), and that these districts only

serve about 11 percent of all public school children. Expenditures are relatively equal across

other poverty categories within districts.

How do school districts serving different types of students and communities allocate

resources across the categories of instruction, administration, and capital outlay? Capital outlay

is the area of expenditure found to be the most sensitive to variations in total district spending. 

Districts with less to spend tend to focus on direct instruction and administration at the expense

of capital expenditures. Districts serving relatively high percentages of students in poverty,

who are minority, or with limited English proficiency allocate greater percentages of their funds

for core instructional purposes than do districts serving lower percentages of these same groups

of students. By region, districts in the northeastern section of the country spend more than the

other three regions (the Midwest, the South, and the West), and districts in the West spend

appreciably less. For example, in the area of administration and support, districts in the

Northeast outspend the West by 65 percent.

84
How do local, state, and federal revenues vary for school districts serving different types

of students and communities? The amount of local support for public education rises with the

wealth and socioeconomic condition of the community. State funding sources exhibit a strong

equalizing effect on the overall distribution of revenues across districts. Although state and

federal allocations are larger in districts with large numbers of special, compensatory, and

limited English proficient students, based on the student-need adjustments used in this study,

these supplemental funds may be insufficient to offset the costs of the additional programs

required to offset the additional needs of these students.

To what extent do education resource measures vary across the nation? The distribution

of public education resources is substantially more equal than overall measures of wealth in the

form of housing values, and somewhat less varied than wealth in terms of household income. 

This equalization comes primarily through the influence of state allocation systems with some

additional equalization resulting from the various federal funding programs.

In conclusion, the data compiled for this report have provided a first opportunity to

examine critical relationships in education fiscal policy, such as real levels of education

resources and student poverty across the school districts of the nation. Based on this

information, what can be said about public school district spending in America?

Students in public schools across the nation do not always receive comparable quantities

of education resources, and in some cases districts enrolling students with the lowest relative

levels of special needs appear to receive the most in the way of education resources (i.e.,

students in districts with the lowest percentages of students in poverty or in special education

programs.) Furthermore, this relationship between expenditures and wealth holds whether

wealth is measured in terms of children in poverty, household income, or housing values. On

the other hand, only the students in the lowest poverty schools receive substantially more

education resources, and independent of other district and community variations, a positive

relationship is shown between the percentage of minority students and education expenditures. 

85
State funding systems provide by far the greatest equalizing influence in education

expenditures across America, with federal funding also contributing somewhat to equalization. 

Overall, education expenditures appear to have an equalizing influence across the nation,

varying substantially less than housing values and somewhat less than average income.

Core instructional expenditures are least affected by expenditure differentials across

districts. Rather, there appears to be a pronounced trend for districts with less to spend to cut

back on capital expenditures. Districts in the Northeast spend appreciably more than other

regions of the country, and districts in the West spend the least.

86
87
Implications for Further Research

In addition to equity issues, the findings discussed in this report also pertain to concerns

about the overall adequacy, or sufficiency, of public education resources throughout the nation. 

Because no absolute standards of educational adequacy have been developed, this concept can

only be assessed in comparative terms. The results obtained through multiple regression

demonstrate that school district spending substantially varies by geographic region, as does

student/teacher ratio. This substantial difference in education funding by region may be a

matter of concern. One of the many factors that may be driving this differential between the

relatively high spending states of the Northeast and Midwest, as compared to those of the West

and South, is the relative reliance on local funding sources. In an effort to obtain funding

systems that are more equalized intrastate, some states have elected to emphasize state, rather

than local, funding sources. These systems tend to be more equalizing because they rely less

on the ability to raise local funds. Local revenues for public education in the western states are

substantially lower than those raised in the Northeast, and are accompanied by a $1,661 per

student total expenditure difference between these two regions. The 17.7 student/teacher ratio

in the Northeast is also substantially lower than the 25.1 ratio in the West. Whatever the cause,

the implications of the differences in school district spending between geographic regions need

to be thoroughly explored by the school finance research community.

Two findings of this study run somewhat counter to initial expectations. First, spending

by school district size is higher only for those school districts with under 1,000 enrollment,

other factors being equal. This seems to suggest that the expected diseconomies of small scale

only hold for the nation’s smallest school districts, a finding that may elicit further study. The

fact that this variation is more pronounced in the multivariate analysis suggests that differences

in district size may underlie other observed relationships, such as that between metropolitan

status and expenditures. Although about one-half (52.2 percent) of the school districts in the

country fit into the classification of school districts with under 1,000 enrollment, they serve

only 7.1 percent of the nation’s public school children.

88
A second, somewhat surprising, finding is that more money is spent in districts with the

highest percentages of minority students compared to districts with the lowest percentages of

minority students ($4,514 versus $3,920), holding other school district characteristics constant. 

This suggests that other influential school district characteristics, such as low property wealth,

are associated with lower school district spending, which is sometimes thought to be a byproduct of racial composition. The multivariate analysis shows that among school districts with

the same geographic location, size, wealth, and student need characteristics, spending is actually

higher in districts with high percentages of minority students. This is a somewhat unexpected

and encouraging finding, and should be further explored in future studies by school finance

researchers.

A less surprising finding is that greater total expenditures per student are associated with

higher community socioeconomic status, measured by the value of owner-occupied housing (per

student expenditures of $4,401 versus $3,992, other factors held constant), or by education

attainment ($4,515 versus $3,953). Unlike the findings for school district size, these results

suggest a linear relationship; that is, each increment in socioeconomic status results in higher

expenditures. Differences in student/teacher ratios also appear but are less than 1.5 students per

teacher. Of interest are the relatively modest dollar differences that occur between

socioeconomic groups, compared to the large differences caused by geographic region.

When socioeconomic status is measured by cost-adjusted median household income,

however, and all other factors are held constant, the expenditures per student between the

highest and lowest income groups differ by only $186 ($4,382 versus $4,196). These findings

relating alternative measures of socioeconomic status to education spending provide a fertile

field for further research. 

Public education total expenditures per student are highest in low poverty districts, but

unlike socioeconomic status, the relationship is not linear. Controlling for other factors, the

differential between the highest and lowest poverty districts is $309 per student ($4,219 versus

$4,528). However, while school districts with 5 to 15 percent school-age children in poverty

spend $4,227, those with 25 percent or more in poverty spend $4,219, a difference of only $8. 

89
For most school districts, those with more than 5 percent of school-age children in poverty, per

student spending is comparable. Controlling for other school district characteristics, only

school districts in the category with the fewest children in poverty spend substantially more per

student. Unlike previous studies, we do not find that spending rises with higher percentages of

school-age children in poverty.8

It is also worthy of note that smaller dollar differences in per student expenditures are

observed when core instructional, as opposed to total, expenditures are examined by

socioeconomic status (see table A11 in Appendix A). Whether socioeconomic status is

measured by the value of owner-occupied housing ($2,669 versus $2,518), by education

attainment ($2,700 versus $2,470), or by median household income ($2,701 versus $2,513),

other factors held constant, the observed differences in expenditure decrease to $151, $230, and

$188, respectively. Core instructional expenditures is a term designed to reflect the central

purpose of the local education agency, which is to educate children. Similarly, controlling for

other school district characteristics, core expenditures per student for school districts with high

and low concentrations of school-age children in poverty differ by only $113 ($2,592 versus

$2,705). 

These findings suggest that lower wealth districts appear to be investing a larger

percentage of their spending on core instructional expenditures, rather than on other areas of

their budgets. Although such findings mitigate total expenditure per student spending

differences found by socioeconomic status, these findings may also indicate that poor school

 

 

8

These findings differ from earlier analyses of the relationship between education expenditures and

poverty conducted by Schwartz and Moskowitz (1988). Their state-by-state analyses reported 3 states with

negative correlations, 14 states near zero, and 33 states with a positive relationship between these two

variables. To further test our findings, which are based on more current data and evaluate this relationship

on a national basis, we ran analyses dividing the districts into exact poverty quartiles. We also ran a straight

correlation between the various measures of education spending used in this report and the percentage of

school-age children in poverty. In each case we found a negative relationship between spending and poverty. 

Further analyses would be required to determine whether these contradictory findings represent a change over

time (the Schwartz and Moskowitz poverty data are from 1979, while the data used in this report are from the

1990 census) or represent differences in the unit of analysis or in the methodological approach.

90
districts are deferring needed school construction and renovation and the purchase of

instructional equipment. Other evidence exists to suggest that this is precisely what is

occurring. For example, a survey conducted by the American Association of School

Administrators in 1991 found 12 percent of the buildings in the country to be inadequate and

estimates costs of $100 billion to remedy these deferred maintenance needs. The current study

was not able to completely explore the differences in spending for capital outlay, which

includes both school construction and the purchase of instructional and other equipment. This

also provides an opportunity for further research.

91
References

Berne, R. and Stiefel, L. (1992). “Equity Standards for State School Finance Programs:

Philosophies and Standards Relevant to Section 5(d)(2) of the Federal Impact Aid

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