California Public Schools Spent Nearly $7000 Per Pupil in 2000-2001; Higher State Spending Levels Will Yield More Federal Title I Money -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin - Volume 10, Bulletin 7 -- March 20, 2003

On March 11, the Census Bureau released its "Public Education Finances 2001," an annual examination of federal, state and local government financing of school systems which provides various data on state and local expenditures for K-12 education. The report is an important source of data for distributing federal formula grant funding under Title I, a $10 billion federal formula grant program which helps school districts provide services to educationally disadvantaged children.

The report shows that California's per pupil expenditures in the 2000-2001 school year had risen considerably faster than the corresponding growth rate for the nation as a whole. California spent a total of $6,965 per pupil in 2000-2001, whereas the national average spending level was $7,284 per pupil. California's spending level was thus 95.6% of the national level, a marked increase from the 92.1% of the national average in 1999-2000, and 89.8% of the national average in 1998-99. It is a significant increase over the state's relative low point in 1995-96, when the state ranked 35th and spent at 86.8% of the per pupil expenditure national average.

The funding formula for federal Title I expenditures weights grant funding based partly on state per pupil expenditures (as well as child poverty), so a relative increase in this statistic will result in increased federal funding for the state.

The progressively higher spending levels by the state continues a trend whereby California has risen from 32nd ranking among the 50 states plus DC in 1998-99 to 29th ranking in 1999-2000 and now to 24th in 2000-2001. The top-ranked state was New York, which spent $10,992 per pupil (New Jersey and DC were a close second and third), and the bottom-ranked state was Utah, which spent $4,625 per pupil on public education.

In the prior year, California had spent $6,298 per pupil in 1999-2000, compared to a national rate of $6,835. Thus, California's per pupil spending rose by $667 (or 10.6%), whereas national spending rose $449 (or 6.6%).

Detailed data for the past 10 school years are available on the Census Bureau's website, at http://www.census.gov/govs/www/school.html .

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