The inclusion of a special unit at a school may significantly affect the budgeted running cost per pupil. The running cost per pupil of a special unit can be expected to be higher than the running costs for pupils in the other part of the school. However, the overall effect will be heavily dependent on the number of pupils in the special unit and the nature of their needs. Where such units do not have a September 1997 school roll, it has not been possible to calculate costs per pupil. However, the overall costs are included in education authority totals and averages.
Some education authorities have a policy to provide extra staffing and resources to certain schools.
For example, extra teachers may be given to schools in an area designated for priority treatment. Such schools are likely to have higher budgeted costs than schools of a similar roll in other areas. Some secondary schools offer courses to large numbers of adult returners or pupils of other schools. These individuals are not included in the school roll figure for the report. There may be different practices for allocating the costs in these cases.