Submitted by: agcomm,  Thu Jun 26 10:38:47 1997


                                   June 26, 1997
 
North Dakota 10th In Per-Capita Spending for Education
 
Graphic accompanies this story in hard copy and
is available on the World Wide Web.
 
     Per-capita state government expenditure of $3,451 in 1995
ranks North Dakota 16th in per-capita spending among all
states in the nation, according to a recent "Economic
Brief" from the State Data Center at North Dakota State
University. North Dakota State government expenditures totaled
$2.2 billion in 1995, a 23.4 percent increase from 1991. 
 
     The largest portion of the 1995 budget was spent on
education, $1,150 per capita, the 10th highest rate in the
nation. 
 
     "The relatively high level of spending on education shows
the challenge North Dakota faces in serving students in a
sparsely populated state that covers nearly 69,000 square
miles, of which only 170 square miles are in urbanized areas,"
says Richard Rathge, director of the State Data Center. He
adds,"The distribution of state funding for education has
slipped during the past decade, dropping from 38.3 percent of
total expenditures in 1983 to 33.3 percent in 1995. In
contrast, state spending for public welfare increased from 9
percent to 19.8 percent during that same time period."
 
     North Dakota spent $683 per capita on public welfare in
1995, ranking North Dakota 21st in the nation. Between 1991
and 1995, North Dakota's per capita expenditures for public
welfare grew by more than 62 percent. In contrast, spending
for hospitals and police protection declined 15.6 percent and
4.9 percent, respectively. On a per capita basis, the state
ranked third in highway expenditures, fourth in natural
resource expenditures and last in both corrections and police
protection expenditures.
 
[EDITORS: FOR MORE DETAIL ON 1995 STATE  GOVERNMENT
EXPENDITURES, SEE YELLOW PUBLICATION FOLLOWING THIS STORY,
"STATE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES, 1995." THIS PUBLICATION IS
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE STATE DATA CENTER, BOX 5636, NDSU,
FARGO, ND 58105.]
 
Writer: Naomi Dahlberg
 
NDSU Agriculture Communication
Barry Brissman
Departmental Editor
(701) 231-7866
Rathge: (701) 231-8621