Department of Education
Releases Spending Guide

The average cost to educate a New Jersey student was $13,835 in 2009-2010 – a 4.3 percent increase from the previous year – according to the 2010 Comparative Spending Guide released last week.

The annual report issued by the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) provides statistics detailing local school spending in 14 categories.

“The guide allows people to compare districts’ efficiency, but it is important to note that the guide is about spending patterns, not academic achievement,” Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said. “It does not attempt to make any correlation between expenditures and academic achievement.”

The Comparative Spending Guide can be found online on the DOE website.

The Department of Education noted some of the trends:

• The average cost of classroom instruction was $8,113 per student, an increase of 3.6 percent. Instructional costs make up about 59 percent of school districts’ average per pupil costs.
• The greatest increase since last year was in support services like nurses and guidance counselors. Those costs, which account for about 15.5 percent of an average district’s cost per pupil, came in at $2,169 per student.
• The slowest rate of increase was in administrative costs, which grew by 2.4 percent.  Administrative costs averaged $1,453 per pupil, making up about 2.5 percent of school districts’ total costs per pupil.

The annual guide groups school districts of similar size and grade structure. It compares K-6, K-8, K-12, 7-12 and 9-12 districts – with subgroupings depending on enrollment. It also compares county special services, county vocational schools and charter schools.

The guide reflects spending common to all school districts, such as special education, early childhood education, and bilingual education. However, certain types of spending can differ significantly from one district to the next – such as transportation, tuition and capital expenditures – and the Department of Education does not include that data in the guide. 

Schundler noted that the cost per pupil is based only on the factors measured in the guide, not the total cost per pupil. Actual cost-per-pupil figures can be found in the School Report Card for each district. Those figures can be found at the Department of Education’s Web site.

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