DENVER Colorado continues to rank well below the national average on public school funding, a new report from the Census Bureau shows.
The state ranked 40th in per-student spending at $8,718 per pupil in 2008-09. The national average was $10,499 per student, and the highest state, New York, spent nearly $10,000 more per student than Colorado.
The funding per pupil in Colorado is abysmal by any measure, said Bruce Caughey, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives. We are funding our schools much lower than the national average.
Democrats and school advocates frequently use the annual Census report and similar studies to make the case that Colorado schools need more money.
But others question the usefulness of the figures, including Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs.
I dont think they are anywhere close to accurate in the amount of dollars we spend in Colorado, King said.
The popularity of charter schools in Colorado might be driving down the states numbers in the Census report, King said.
The Census Bureaus numbers do not include the money school districts get for construction, adult education and a few other items.
However, Mary Wickersham of the Colorado Childrens Campaign thinks the Census report is worthwhile because it provides an apples-to-apples comparison that measures school funding the same way for all 50 states.
Wednesdays report also showed that Colorado spends slightly higher than the national average on school administration. The state spent $594 per student, ranking 19th and just over the national average of $579 per student.
CASE has done its own studies that show Colorados administration costs are below the average for states with similar wealth, school enrollment, at-risk kids and other factors. Districts have eliminated administrator jobs since the recession set in, Caughey said.
At the same time, a series of reforms the Legislature has passed is demanding more work from administrators to monitor teachers, track data and write reports to the state.
What were seeing is a collision of expectations and funding, Caughey said.
Colorado ranked 49th out of the states and the District of Columbia in school spending compared to the wealth of its residents, spending $33.02 on public schools for every $1,000 earned in the state, according to the Census report. School supporters often cite this figure to argue that Coloradans can afford to spend more on education.
Increases in the budgets for Colorado schools did not keep pace with changes in the economy. Colorado spent $2.74 more on schools per $1,000 in personal income in 2006 than it did in 2009.
But King, a charter school founder, said funding is not the best way to measure the health of schools. Nearly 9 percent of the states students will be in charter schools next year, and charter schools can both hold down costs and provide a better education, he said.
I will guarantee you that funding is not the only answer to educational outcomes, King said.
Caughey agreed in principle with King.
I would agree with him, but at some point, you start to have diminishing returns, and Colorado is at that point, Caughey said.
The Census report also showed that Colorado ranked dead last in funding by the federal government, at $690 per student.
Colorado missed out last year on a federal grant called Race to the Top, but the U.S. Department of Education selected the state Wednesday as one of nine that could apply for a new round of Race to the Top funding, with a possible award of $10 million to $50 million.
(Wednesdays) announcement is good news potentially even very good news for Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a written statement. We have every intention of pursuing this opportunity to fund excellence in our schools.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.