Growls

On December 7, we growled that the cost per student of $19,538 of the Arlington Public Schools (APS) is the most expensive in the Washington DC suburbs. The WABE Guide, which we used, contains a great deal of information that Arlington County taxpayers may find of interest, including the sources of revenue for the school districts. In the case of APS, 83.0% comes from local sources, 13.4% from the Commonwealth, and 3.7% from federal and other sources.

That 83.0% number for APS’ local sources of revenue goes a long way towards explaining why APS ranks among the ten Virginia school districts receiving the least state SOQ spending per pupil for FY 2008, according to briefing materials for the December 8, 2008 meeting of the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).

According to the Code of Virginia, JLARC is required to “report annually on the State expenditure in each locality for an education program meeting the SOQ” (Standards of Quality).The briefing materials show that total state spending from SOQ accounts in FY 2008 was $5.09 billion, or $4,269 per pupil. Distributions are based on a complex formula called the “composite index,” which attempts to “share the wealth” among Virginia’s diverse communities.

For FY 2008, Lee County, which is the most southwest of Virginia’s counties, received the most SOQ spending -- $6,913 -- because of it’s lowest composite index (0.1769). On the other hand, APS is one of seven districts with the highest composite index (0.8000). Despite that, the state SOQ spending per pupil among those seven ranges from $2,065 for Goochland to $2,285 for Arlington and $2,353 for Alexandria.

The Fairfax County Public Schools received $2,588 per pupil due to its composite index of 0.7456, receiving the tenth least in state SOQ per pupil.

In growling about APS’ $19,538 per student spending on December 7, we raised a question taxpayers might want to ask Arlington School Board members. Well, here’s another way of looking at per student spending. First, multiply the number $19,538 by  83.0%, which means that Arlington taxpayer are spending $16,217 per student. On the other hand, multiply Fairfax County’s cost per student of $13,340 by 73.2% (percentage of local source revenues), which means Fairfax County taxpayers provide $9,765  of their cost per student.

In the 2007 Community Satisfaction Survey conducted by APS, 76% of the “community” and 83% of parents (of those who answered “Yes” or “No”) thought their tax dollars were  being “well spent” by the school board and school superintendent. Would that response be nearly as high if the survey provided respondents with the APS FY 2009 cost per student of $19,538 for students in the Arlington Public Schools?

UPDATE (12/11/08). The correct amount of local revenue provided by Fairfax County taxpayers is $9,765, and not $7,148, as originally posted.