U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce News 
                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2003
                                

Patricia Buscher                                       CB03-44
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov                          Quotes and radio sound bites


              School Districts in New York and New Jersey Spent Most
                   Per Pupil on Education, Census Bureau Reports
                                
  School districts in New York and New Jersey led all states in the amount
of money spent per student on elementary and secondary education in 2001,
according to the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

  The following table shows per-pupil expenditures from the 2001 Annual
Survey of Local Government Finances — School Systems for the United States
and the top five states or equivalents:
      Change
State

2001 Spending
Per Pupil

2000 Spending
Per Pupil

Dollars

Percent
United States 
        $ 7,284       $ 6,836     $448

6.6
New York
          10,922        10,039       883

8.8
New Jersey  
         10,893        10,283       610

5.9
District of  Columbia  
         10,852        10,836         16

 0.0
Connecticut  
           9,236          8,800       436

 5.0
Alaska  
           9,165          8,743       422

4.8

 
Other findings:

  - State governments contributed the greatest share of public elementary
    and secondary school funding: $201 billion. Local governments followed 
    at $173 billion and the federal government was the third largest 
    contributor at $29 billion.

  - Public school systems spent $410.6 billion, up $30.1 billion from
    2000. About $212.7 billion was spent on instruction, $118.7 billion on 
    services that support instruction, $48.9 billion on capital outlay and 
    $30.2 billion on other noninstructional items.

  - School districts invested $36.0 billion in school construction, up
    13.3 percent.
  
  - School district debt reached $201.6 billion, an increase of 13.0
    percent. Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan 
    borrowed more than $2 billion each for building construction, 
    reconstruction and refinancing.
                                
  The tabulations contain data on revenue, expenditure and debt for
individual public elementary and secondary school systems with enrollments
of 15,000 pupils or more.

  Data for this report come from all elementary and secondary school
systems and are not subject to sampling error. The data are subject to
possible error from miscoding and misidentification of schools.
-X-


Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030
Last Revised: March 11, 2003 at 07:23:02 AM

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