One of the concerns I've heard while doing door-to-door in Dryden is the pressure of property taxes, especially school taxes. New York separates municipal governments from school taxes, so there's a limited amount the Town of Dryden can do to help reduce school taxes. (That said, if there are opportunities, I'm happy to look at them.)
Those conversations, though, made this list of school spending by district per pupil more interesting. The data is from 2006-7, so isn't complete. The average district in New York State spends $15,981 per student per year, while the average district in the United States spends $9,666, and compensation. School spending in New York climbed 38.4% from 2001-2, while school spending in the United States as a whole climbed 24.5%. Enrollment statewide fell 3.2%, while it climbed for the country by 2.7%.
Locally, the picture is similar. Dryden schools spent $14,711 per student, and spending climbed 39%. Enrollment fell 5.6%. The Ithaca schools spent $16,177 per student, and spending climbed 34.9%, with a 3.9% enrollment drop. Lansing's had the wildest rise, spending $16,392 per student, climbing 46.5%, with an enrollment drop of 5.1%. Groton spent $13,418 per student, climbing 41.5%, with an enrollment drop of 13.5%. Cortland spent $13,060 per student, with a spending climb of 29.1% and an enrollment drop of 2%.
State aid makes the tax story different in all of those districts, of course. (And I wonder if Lansing's figures are inflated by the accounting issues they found recently.)
Posted by simon at October 12, 2009 4:46 PM in schools (Dryden) , schools (Ithaca) , schools (other)
It's worth noting that the greatest annual increases in spending come from (1) personnel (and benefits) and (2) special education costs. (1) is contractual and fixed only via position cuts and/or negotiations; (2) is mostly out of a district's control.