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Friday, January 13, 2012

CA student spending near bottom | Thoughts on Public Education

CA student spending near bottom | Thoughts on Public Education:

CA student spending near bottom

By some other measures, middle of the pack
By Kathryn Baron

John Fensterwald contributed to this report.

California schools are the poster child for Gov. Brown’s new budget mantra that the state can’t spend what it doesn’t have. The latest Quality Counts report from Education Weekranks California 47th overall in how much it spends per student – $8,667 when adjusted for regional cost differences, about $3,000 below the national average of $11,665.

California remains near the bottom nationwide in per student spending. (Source:  Quality Counts 2012) Click to enlarge.

California remains near the bottom nationwide in per student spending. (Source: Quality Counts 2012) Click to enlarge.

This is a drop over last year, when California spent $8,852 per pupil, with a ranking of 43rd in spending adjusted for regional cost-of-living variations. Of course that was before the state faced a nearly $27 billion dollar deficit.

The state also falls short when it