State and local
revenues per pupil fell in real terms in 39 states.
Balancing all these factors leads to the projections in Figure 5, which provide a bounded estimate of national total operating
revenues per pupil through 2020.
Second, suppose the amount of the voucher is identical to
the revenues per pupil at the district school.
Since then, as MPCP enrollments have grown and as the gap has widened between the voucher and MPS
revenues per pupil, the benefit has grown from $ 7.3 million to $ 31.9 million in 2008.
In this view, it would be justified to maintain total revenues, despite falling enrollments, for a higher
revenue per pupil.
In Philadelphia, for example,
revenue per pupil (in constant dollars) dropped from more than $ 15,400 at the height of the stimulus package to just $ 13,660 in 2013, a free fall of 12 percent, which forced deficit financing, personnel cuts, and shortened school years (see «The Philadelphia School District's Ongoing Financial Crisis,» features, Fall 2014).
While this is an oversimplification, the Department's proposed rule would require districts to spend roughly equal amounts of state and local
revenue per pupil in Title I and non-Title I schools.
Data collected by the United States Census Bureau show DCPS as having by far the highest
revenue per pupil in the country when compared to statewide averages at $ 29,427.
Many of the disparities were attributable to vast differences in the amount and value of taxable property within school systems, which ranged from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars in taxable
revenue per pupil.
When the LCFF is fully implemented many schools and districts will receive 50 to 75 percent more
revenue per pupil than they do now.
As a public school, charter schools receive
revenue per pupil according to state guidelines.
Average
revenue per pupil in elementary and secondary schools in the United States amounts to roughly $ 13,000 a year.
Texas Education Agency (TEA) data indicates that charter schools receive approximately $ 1200 less in total
revenue per pupil than traditional public schools.
State funds received based on the average daily attendance of students, resulting in $ 1200 less in total
revenue per pupil than traditional public schools
Not exact matches
In most cases, tax
revenues pay the costs at private schools up to the expenditures
per pupil in government - operated schools.
While
per pupil revenue covers the majority of our expenses related to delivery of the academic program, additional money must be raised to provide the support services needed to effectively serve pregnant and parenting teens and their children.
The resulting «funding gap» is the difference between
per -
pupil revenues in poor and rich districts.
Districts, of course, can also seek operating levies from local taxpayers to boost
revenues beyond what the state affords them, while charters depend entirely on state and federal
per -
pupil allocations and whatever they can raise from philanthropy (see Figure 1 for current spending estimates).
The
revenue generated from that deduction is reallocated to districts with below - average
per -
pupil spending and property values.
Districts that can generate more than the foundation level in local
revenue are not eligible for foundation aid, but still receive at least $ 375
per pupil from a constitutionally dedicated fund.
If a district has «negative aid» in Wisconsin's third tier of funding, it must share some of its local
revenue with districts whose
per -
pupil property values are lower than the state average.
Second, though states have shouldered some responsibility for financing public education, usually by decreeing a minimum or «foundation» level of
per -
pupil spending, sizable portions of education
revenue are locally generated through property taxes, bond levies, and such.
Finally, when schools do locate a facility, upfront costs can be prohibitive for schools that do not have the
per -
pupil revenue base or donor support to finance renovations.
If a district's
per -
pupil adjusted property wealth is greater than $ 305,000, it must do one of the following: consolidate with another district, share
revenue with another district, return
revenue to the state, educate students from another district, or consolidate its tax base with another district's.
As a result, MPS was no longer able to maintain total
revenues as it lost MPCP students, but could still maintain
per -
pupil revenues.
The net impact on taxpayers, then, is 1) the savings that come from the difference between the voucher and the
per -
pupil revenue at district schools, for those who would have attended them in the absence of the voucher program, minus 2) the voucher costs for students who would have attended private schools anyway.
Students in public charter schools receive $ 5,721 or 29 % less in average
per -
pupil revenue than students in traditional public schools (TPS) in 14 major metropolitan areas across the U. S in Fiscal Year 2014.
The diversion of voucher funds from the district to the voucher school would leave
per -
pupil revenues unchanged and would also have no net impact on taxpayers.
The total
revenue each district is allowed to raise from property taxes and general state aid is simply that
per -
pupil amount, multiplied by enrollment (smoothed by three - year averaging).
But MPS chose to maintain total
revenues, collecting $ 39.5 million more than would have been needed to maintain the
per -
pupil amount.
Average
per -
pupil public
revenues (from all sources, including federal Charter School Program start - up grants) across the NewSchools portfolio were more than $ 11,500 in 2010, ranging from about $ 9,000 to $ 16,000, depending on the states and cities where schools are located.
As a benchmark case, consider a hypothetical voucher program that has no net impact on taxpayers or on
per -
pupil district
revenues.
The calculations are based on 18,500 enrollees in MPCP, a voucher amount of $ 6,501, and MPS
revenue limit
per pupil of $ 9,141.
The amount of the voucher is less than the
per -
pupil revenues allocated to MPS, which implies a savings for taxpayers, just as voucher supporters claim.
However, vestiges of the original funding mechanism meant that Milwaukee property taxes had to go up just to maintain
per -
pupil revenues.
In addition, the nature of the impact was left up to Milwaukee: it could choose to let the voucher money follow the child, accepting a net reduction in total (but not
per -
pupil) MPS
revenues.
The
revenue limit formula, underlying Figure 2, takes each district's
per -
pupil revenues from the prior year and tacks on a legislatively determined annual increment.
Traditional public schools received $ 7,000 more
per pupil in local
revenues, on average, than did public charter schools.
MPCP's impact on taxpayers can be readily calculated from the gap between the voucher and
per -
pupil MPS
revenues, under any given assumption regarding the percentage of voucher users who would have otherwise attended private school.
The dotted bars in the positive region for this period represent the impact on MPS of the rise in
per -
pupil revenues.
Figure 2 depicts the
per -
pupil revenue limit for MPS, which rose from $ 5,804 in 1994 (the year Wisconsin established
revenue limits) to $ 9,141 in 2008.
Typically, these surpluses are used to build operating reserves of about 5 percent of a school's yearly budget, to insure against normal cash - flow needs, temporary
revenue interruptions, or fluctuations in annual
per -
pupil funding levels.
Public
revenue for charter schools is typically 10 to 20 percent below
per -
pupil funding levels at neighboring district - run schools.
These higher property taxes no longer pay for the option of maintaining total
revenues as enrollments decline; instead, they are necessary to maintain
per -
pupil revenues.
The dramatic escalation of the federal government's
revenue contribution, to close to 15 percent of education's national total, almost guarantees that mean
per -
pupil revenues will not decline in 2010.
Still,
per -
pupil revenues will likely continue their historical upward trajectory.
The $ 37 billion in the stimulus package that is intended to offset reduced state and local education
revenue in 2009 will cushion what would otherwise likely have been the first significant
per -
pupil spending reduction in 60 years.
There have been 11 periods during which GDP declined but mean total real
per -
pupil revenues still increased.
A study released Aug. 24 by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation shows significant differences in
per -
pupil revenues available to regular public and charter schools.
It's hard to find many «good» charter sectors making do with less than, say, $ 7,500 in
per -
pupil revenue.