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

October 21, 1999

North Dakota's Student-Teacher Ratio Ranks 11^th Nationally

There were 14.5 students for every teacher in North Dakota public schools during the 1998-99 school year. This 14.5-to-1 ratio placed North Dakota 11^th in the current national ranking, according to the recent Economic Brief released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University.

Maine had the lowest student-teacher ratio, at 13-to-1, while Utah had the highest ratio, 22.7-to-1. North Dakota, the other Great Plains states and states in the Northeast showed the lowest ratios of students to teachers in the United States, says Richard Rathge, data center director.

The reason for the low ratios? In the Great Plains, the reason is a declining student population coupled with a fairly stable teacher population, Rathge says. Conversely, dramatic rises in the number of teachers combined with a fairly stable student population accounts for the favorable ratios in the Northeast. Western states such as Utah, California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona had the highest ratios (at least 19 students per teacher or more) for the 1998-99 school year.

"Although the student-teacher ratio averages 14.5 in North Dakota, one needs to keep in mind that this ratio varies by school district and by class," Rathge says. "Schools are constantly challenged to design the best teacher-student mix, but drastically shifting enrollments due to consolidations, change in school boundaries and declining births produce varying class sizes."

While both revenues and expenditures in North Dakota public schools have been keeping pace with inflation, the gap between per-pupil revenues and expenditures narrowed to a difference of only $64 in fiscal year 1999, Rathge says. North Dakota ranked 45^th nationally in revenue per pupil and 38^th in expenditures per pupil in fiscal year 1999.

"The sparsely populated nature of the state means that North Dakota has to educate relatively few students in large geographic regions, which is costly," Rathge concludes.

###

Source: Richard Rathge (701) 231-8621
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136

Click here for a pdf version of this graphic. (13KB b&w graph)

Click here for a pdf version of this graphic. (113KB b&w text, map and graph)

Click here for a pdf version of this graphic. (175KB b&w table)