i?ve been having a discussion/argument with someone about school
vouchers, and we?ve discovered neither one of us has actual data to
back up our points.

the basis of our remaining disagreement is how much the government
pays to educate an ?average? student in public school.  we understand
there are significant complications in special needs education,
differences between rich areas and poor areas, etc.  but all we want
is averages.

for the $7.50 fee, i would like to know the average total amount of
tax revenue collected for k-12 education, per student, per year, in
massachusetts.

i?ll also pay a $7.50 bonus if you can fine-tune the number to give
different costs for different levels: i.e. costs per student, per
annum, for elementary, middle school, and high school (or other
reasonable brackets).

we do NOT need this broken down into things like administration,
teacher salary, capital expenses, school buses, etc., etc.  just the
overall total cost.

finally, i?ll pay a $5 incentive if you can answer by 3pm pst today
(11/20), so we can continue arguing tonite at dinner.  if not, we?re
still interested in getting the data within the next few weeks.

data from 2003 or later is fine; i suspect it hasn?t changed much
since then, on average.

thanks,

-cab

Dear barneca,

According to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, relating to the
Fiscal Year 2003/2004, the figures for Massachusetts are as follows:

- The total average annual revenue collected for one Massachusetts
K-12 pupil was $12,326. Of that amount, $804 came from Federal
sources; $4,911 came from state sources; and $6,611 came from local
sources

- Per pupil enrolled in a public K-12 school, the total average annual
expenditures were $10,693

- Of that amount, $6,669 were spent on instruction, and $3,697 on support services

- Of all U.S. states, Massachusetts ranked #5 in per-pupil spending;
the nationwide average spending was $8,827

Although I could not find data on the annual spending for an
elementary school pupil etc., I hope that this answers your basic
question!
Regards,
Scriptor



Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau: 2004 Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finance Data
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/school04.html

MassINC: CommonWealth Agenda 2006 - K-12 Education
http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=555

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Education, Health, & Safety Net
http://www.massbudget.org/list.php?topic=4

fast and accurate as ever, scriptor.

i’ll have to wade thru your links a little to determine why they GET
$12,326 per student, but only SPEND $10,693 per student.  i’m hoping
it’s some kind of terminology-gap between the census bureau and the
interest groups, and that someone somewhere isn’t just pocketing
$1,633 per student, or, more likely, pouring $1,633 per student down a
deep hole.

as promised, $5.00 bonus for quick response + $2.00 tip

-cab