Report Ranks North Dakota's K-12 Spending

NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

January 21, 1999

Report Ranks North Dakota's K-12 Spending

North Dakota ranked 39th nationally in the amount of money spent per student on elementary and secondary public education in 1995, according to the Economic Brief recently released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

"The low ranking reflects the difficult challenge we face in North Dakota in educating our youth within a limited budget," said Richard Rathge, data center director. "The sparsely populated nature of our state means that we have to educate relatively few students in large geographic regions, which is very costly."

In 1992, 38 percent of North Dakota's 276 public school districts had fewer than 100 students in grades K-12. The number of school districts now has dropped to 235, of which 26 percent have fewer than 100 students in grades K-12, Rathge says.

Revenue from federal sources for public elementary/secondary school systems in North Dakota dropped from 12.5 percent in 1988-89 to less than 9 percent in 1989-90. However, this proportion of revenue has been rising, and in 1994-95, federal monies once again comprised 12 percent, Rathge says.

Meanwhile, state money as a proportion of total revenue has been declining, from 45.5 percent in 1990-91 to 42.8 percent in 1994-95. Rathge says that percentages of local revenue have remained fairly stable throughout the 1990s.

In 1995, New Jersey, New York, Alaska and Connecticut spent the most money per student on K-12 public education. New Jersey spent the most, $8,974, followed by New York at $8,424, Alaska at $8,004 and Connecticut at $7,813. The national average was $5,494. North Dakota spent $4,473. States spending the least per student included Idaho at $3,941, Tennessee at $3,921, Mississippi at $3,791 and Utah at $3,471.

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Source: Richard Rathge (701) 231-8621

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136

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