Thursday, April 28, 2011

Did you know that California ranks 49th in the nation in its staff-per-student ratio?

EdSource | Staff-Per-Pupil Ratios in California 2008-09

Staff-Per-Pupil Ratios in California 2008-09

April 2011


In 2008–09, California ranked 36th in the country in per-pupil expenditures. The state’s modest per-pupil expenditures combined with high labor costs (for example, average teacher salaries in California were the third highest in the country in 2008–09) result in schools not being able to hire as many people.

Ratio of Staff to 1,000 Pupils by Position, Fall 2008-09

California
Rank in U.S.
U.S.
Ratio
California
Ratio
% of
U.S. Ratio

Total Staff to Students

49

128.4

93.3

73%

All Professional (certified) Staff to Students

50

73.2

52.4

72%

Total District Staff (including classified staff)

36

6.6

5.5

83%

District Officials/Administrators Only

45

1.3

0.6

50%*

Total School Staff (including classified staff)

49

97.8

71.3

73%

Certified School Staff Only

50

73.7

54.6

74%

School Principals & Asst. Principals

48

3.2

2.3

71%

Guidance Counselors

51

2.2

1.2

56%

Librarians

51

1.1

0.2

17%

All Teachers

50

65.4
48.0

73%

Elementary Teachers (grades 1-8)

34

52.1

48.3

93%

Secondary Teachers (grades 9-12)

51

82.9

43.8

53%

* Because unrounded numbers were used to calculate percentages, they might not match calculations based on the rounded numbers above. Using rounded numbers can particularly skew the results when the numbers are relatively small, such as for “district officials/administrators.”

† These numbers translate into a student/teacher ratio of 20.8 students to 1 teacher for California and 15.3 to 1 for the entire United States. Only Utah has a higher student/teacher ratio than California.

Notes: (1) The District of Columbia is included. (2) The numbers in this table are based on fall enrollment data and include pre-K public school students and their teachers. NCES estimated that there were 70,497 pre-K students and 3,749 pre-K teachers in California in 2008–09. If the pre-K students and teachers are not included, California’s student/teacher ratio is still 20.8. (3) The “total staff to students” row includes all district and school staff plus those who fall under the NCES category “All Other Support Staff.”

DATA: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data, 2008–09, 1/24/11