Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
7 Figures: U.S. school districts spending per pupil
7 Figures: U.S. school districts spending per pupil
Dec 15, 2025 1:57 PM

Earlier this week the U.S. Census Bureau released a report that reveals how much U.S. school districts spend per pupil. Here are seven figures from the report you should know:

1. The amount spent per pupil for public elementary and secondary education (prekindergarten through 12th grade) for all 50 states and the District of Columbia increased by 3.7 percent to $12,201 per pupil during the 2017 fiscal pared to $11,763 per pupil in 2016, according to new tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

2. The top five school systems with the largest enrollment were New York City (984,462), Los Angeles (633, 621), Chicago (378,199), Miami-Dade County, FL (357,249), and Clark County NV (326,953).

3. Of the 100 largest school systems based on enrollment, the five school systems with the highest spending per pupil in 2017 were New York City School District in New York ($25,199), Boston City Schools in Massachusetts ($22,292), Baltimore City Schools in Maryland ($16,184), Montgomery County School District in Maryland ($16,109), and Howard County School District in Maryland ($15,921)

4. Maryland had four of the top 10 school systems school districts with the highest spending per pupil.

5. The public school systems that received the highest percentage of their revenues from the federal government were New Mexico (14.4 percent), Mississippi (14.1 percent), Alaska (14.0 percent), Arizona (13.7 percent), and South Dakota (12.8 percent).

6. The public school systems that received the highest percentage of their revenues from the federal government were New Jersey (4.1 percent), Massachusetts (4.3 percent), Connecticut (4.3 percent), Minnesota (5.2 percent) and New York (5.3 percent).

7. In 2017, public elementary and secondary education revenue, from all sources, amounted to $694.1 billion, up 3.4 percent from $671.2 billion in 2016.

Note: These e from the 2017Annual Survey of School System Finances.You can find more information about individual school districts at that link.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Climate Conspiracy Theory (w/apologies to CS Lewis)
MY DEAR WORMWOOD, It is indeed fortunate that Our Father has seen fit to quech our appetites in another way and put you in a new role despite your losing in quite dramatic style your former patient to our Enemy. At least you have the good sense to continue our counsel together. I note what you say about your patient’s apparent obsession with things terrestrial and that you’ve been taking care that he sees a good deal of his apoplectic...
Faith-based organizations measure success
Here’s a mended read for anyone interested in measuring the effectiveness of a faith-based charity. The Heritage Foundation has published a special report titled, e-Based Evaluation: Faith-Based Social Service Organizations and Stewardship” by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D., Claudia Horn, Calvin W. Edwards, Collette Caprara, and Karen M. Woods — Acton’s former Director of Effective Compassion. Summary: e-based evaluation has the potential to engender a revolution of increased effectiveness in the mu­nity and to debunk skeptics’ claim that faith-based programs are...
.xxx domain proposal fails, x3
The effort to create a top-level domain suffix for adult Web sites has failed, for the third time (HT: X3). ICANN voted 9-5 to defeat the proposal, which was roundly opposed by an unlikely alliance of religious groups and the adult entertainment industry. The proposal would have created a new “.xxx” suffix that would have allowed voluntary participation of adult content providers. Many in that line of work are concerned that such a voluntary program could e mandatory, “pushing them...
John Paul II: a Protestant tribute
Those who know me are not surprised to learn that I sincerely admired Pope John Paul II for many years. At first, like many Protestants, I saw him only as the pope, thus as a person standing in some kind of opposition to my own Christian faith. After I began to grasp what I believed about the Creed’s affirmation regarding “one, holy, catholic church” I found my heart melted to love all Christians everywhere. It was not hard for me...
‘Reverse’ subsidies
A couple weeks ago the NYT magazine ran a piece by contributing writer Tina Rosenberg, which attempts to outline some of the ways in which “everyone in a wealthy nation has e the beneficiary of the generous subsidies that poorer countries bestow upon rich ones.” What does she mean? In “Reverse Foreign Aid,” Rosenberg asserts that there are five major forms of poor-to-rich international subsidy. The first is the tendency among poorer nations to build-up great reserves of hard currency,...
A one-size-fits-all approach to charity regulation?
Anyone concerned with good governance in the nonprofit sector — and it’s independence — should read the updated draft report on “principles of effective practice” issued by Independent Sector. The group has been working closely with the Senate Finance Committee, which for the past two years has been investigating abuses in the world of charities and nonprofits. The abuses, which usually involve excessive pensation and lavish perks, pop up with dreary regularity. A good example of this is what’s been...
Evangelical alarmism
In a piece for The American Spectator earlier this week, Mark Tooley of IRD evaluates the global warming dust-up at the NAE. In “Prepare for Biblical Floods and Droughts,” Tooley especially criticizes the reaction of emergent church leader Brian McLaren, who used the examples of Noah and Joseph to argue for the legitimacy of a prophetic voice on climate change. Tooley writes that we can expect Global Warming to remain the main obsession of the evangelical left and of NAE...
A Psalm for Holy Week
Psalm 22 – A Cry of Anguish and Song of Praise – A Psalm of David 1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 2O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted,...
EPA must examine climate change link
The Supreme Court ruled today (5-4) in the case of Massachusetts v. EPA (05-1120) “that the federal government had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases that may contribute to global warming, and must examine anew the scientific evidence of a link between those gases and climate change.” Toward the end of last year some were arguing that “this case is not about the science of climate change. There is no dispute that human emissions of greenhouse gases affect the global...
Europe’s amnesic anniversary
Despite all the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, all is not well with the dream of a united Europe — at least as it’s envisioned by the political class and Brussels technocrats. In addition to its ongoing economic malaise, the European Union still seems unable to fully acknowledge its cultural, religious and political roots. “People who suffer from amnesia have great difficulty making sound choices about the future because they do not know where they...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved