There is a great deal of variation in average per pupil allocations across community school districts. In 2013-2014, the last school year in which budgets were set by the Bloomberg Administration, school district allocations averaged $8,255 per student in grades pre-k through 8. The difference in per pupil allocations between the district with the highest average allocation (district 16, Bedford-Stuyvesant) and the lowest (district 24, Corona/Elmhurst) was $3,800.
This variation is not unexpected.
Schools recieve funding from a variety of state, city, and federal sources,
many of these funding streams attempt to direct resources to students deemed to
have greater needs. Moreover, per pupil spending is also a function of school
size, with large schools generally receiving less funding per pupil than
schools with fewer students.
Average Allocation: $8,255
Some part of the difference in
allocations relates to the relative socio-economic status of the communities
within each district.
The largest per pupil allocations
are found in the South Bronx (district 7), Central Brooklyn (district 16),
Upper Manhattan (districts 4 and 5), and the Lower East Side (district 1). The
lowest per student allocations are found in Queens (districts 24, 25, and 26)
and Manhattan (district 2).
The results displayed by borough
and funding source shed more light on these differences.
The three largest funding streams
for schools, Fair Student Funding, other city funds, and Federal Title 1, drive
the major difference across boroughs. Schools in Queens receive, on average,
$1,310 less per pupil from these combined sources than schools in the Bronx.
School size also contributes to
the differences in per pupil allocations across districts and boroughs. Generally,
large schools receive less funding in per pupil terms than small schools. This
is likely because schoolwide costs are being shared over a greater number of
students. Queens, with the largest average school size, had the lowest per
pupil allocations, while Manhattan and the Bronx, with the two smallest average
school sizes, had the two largest per pupil allocations.
Prepared by Ray Domanico
New York City Independent Budget
Office
SOURCE: IBO analysis of Department
of Education dataNOTES: Excludes high schools and schools in the citywide special education district (district 75) because they are not evenly distributed across community school districts. Spending allocated to school budgets exclude fringe benefits.