Arizona Public School Districts' Dollars Spent in the Classroom, Fiscal Year 2005
In fiscal year 2005, Arizona’s classroom dollar percentage was 58.4 percent, slightly lower than the previous 2 years’ 58.6 percent. Further, the most recent national average was 61.3 percent, and the ten states closest to Arizona in per-pupil spending averaged 60.9 percent. State-wide, Arizona districts spent a larger proportion of available resources on plant costs, student support, and food services and a smaller proportion on administration when compared to the national average.
Larger student populations continued to be the primary factor associated with individual districts’ higher classroom dollar percentages. Higher plant, administrative, student support, and transportation costs were associated with districts’ lower classroom percentages. Within Arizona, higher per-pupil total spending does not equate to higher classroom dollar percentages. In fact, districts that spent the most per pupil have lower classroom dollar percentages, on average.
Proposition 301 monies continue to be spent primarily for increasing teacher pay. On average, these monies represented 11 percent of teacher salaries, and ranged from $486 to $7,904. A small amount of menu monies, about $117,000, was spent for purposes not allowed by statute.
The report also contains alphabetically organized one-page information sheets on individual districts, summarizing each district’s classroom and nonclassroom spending, its reported Proposition 301 program results, and other comparative information.