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Comparison Map
For example, using the data from the last three columns on the right, the table can be read as ""The highest-poverty districts in Alabama ($5,954) spent $1,893 (24.1%) LESS per pupil than the lowest-poverty districts ($7,848).
  2007-08
  No adjustment for students in poverty   100% weighted adjustment for students in poverty
State Highest- poverty (quartile) districts Lowest- poverty (quartile) districts Percent difference between highest- and lowest- poverty districts1   Highest- poverty (quartile) districts Lowest- poverty (quartile) districts Percent difference between highest- and lowest- poverty districts1
United States2  
Alabama $7,903 $8,699 -9.2   $5,954 $7,848 -24.1
Alaska $16,852 $11,984 40.6   $14,474 $11,142 29.9
Arizona $6,777 $6,610 2.5   $4,813 $6,033 -20.2
Arkansas $7,498 $7,099 5.6   $5,656 $6,205 -8.9
California $8,953 $8,270 8.3   $6,913 $7,658 -9.7
Colorado $10,280 $8,193 25.5   $8,112 $7,804 4.0
Connecticut $13,494 $13,658 -1.2   $10,622 $13,285 -20.0
Delaware $11,438 $10,976 4.2   $8,936 $9,729 -8.2
District of Columbia 2  
Florida $8,582 $8,219 4.4   $6,983 $7,204 -3.1
Georgia $9,080 $8,800 3.2   $6,847 $8,050 -14.9
Hawaii 2  
Idaho $6,328 $6,522 -3.0   $5,256 $5,943 -11.6
Illinois $8,401 $9,914 -15.3   $6,400 $9,473 -32.4
Indiana $8,911 $7,683 16.0   $6,775 $7,217 -6.1
Iowa $8,099 $7,839 3.3   $6,768 $7,433 -8.9
Kansas $9,312 $8,627 7.9   $7,583 $8,239 -8.0
Kentucky $7,707 $7,160 7.6   $5,817 $6,388 -8.9
Louisiana $7,918 $8,467 -6.5   $5,589 $7,230 -22.7
Maine $10,764 $10,943 -1.6   $8,818 $10,305 -14.4
Maryland $11,553 $11,612 -0.5   $9,581 $10,975 -12.7
Massachusetts $15,205 $12,685 19.9   $11,807 $12,313 -4.1
Michigan $9,357 $9,266 1.0   $6,493 $8,723 -25.6
Minnesota $10,000 $8,414 18.8   $8,238 $8,098 1.7
Mississippi $6,638 $6,356 4.4   $4,498 $5,501 -18.2
Missouri $8,271 $8,503 -2.7   $6,099 $8,054 -24.3
Montana $9,796 $8,184 19.7   $7,603 $7,436 2.3
Nebraska $8,311 $7,910 5.1   $6,890 $7,533 -8.5
Nevada 2  
New Hampshire $10,637 $11,701 -9.1   $9,336 $11,324 -17.6
New Jersey $19,005 $15,172 25.3   $14,671 $14,775 -0.7
New Mexico $8,693 $7,515 15.7   $6,435 $6,409 0.4
New York $15,273 $17,296 -11.7   $10,838 $16,569 -34.6
North Carolina $7,301 $7,301 #   $5,682 $6,467 -12.1
North Dakota $8,840 $7,558 17.0   $7,150 $7,053 1.4
Ohio $9,772 $9,233 5.8   $7,065 $8,738 -19.1
Oklahoma $6,665 $6,273 6.3   $5,128 $5,757 -10.9
Oregon $8,439 $7,842 7.6   $6,796 $7,126 -4.6
Pennsylvania $8,825 $11,264 -21.7   $6,439 $10,716 -39.9
Rhode Island $13,094 $12,583 4.1   $9,657 $11,894 -18.8
South Carolina $8,078 $7,858 2.8   $6,271 $6,949 -9.8
South Dakota $8,540 $6,798 25.6   $5,963 $6,228 -4.3
Tennessee $6,936 $6,877 0.9   $5,343 $6,131 -12.8
Texas $7,355 $7,312 0.6   $5,442 $6,797 -19.9
Utah $5,699 $4,909 16.1   $4,884 $4,596 6.3
Vermont $13,260 $12,787 3.7   $11,094 $12,188 -9.0
Virginia $9,128 $11,391 -19.9   $7,325 $10,807 -32.2
Washington $8,344 $8,164 2.2   $6,814 $7,699 -11.5
West Virginia $8,522 $8,806 -3.2   $6,775 $7,742 -12.5
Wisconsin $10,236 $9,805 4.4   $8,113 $9,401 -13.7
Wyoming $13,766 $12,934 6.4   $12,039 $12,223 -1.5
† Not applicable.
1 Percent difference was calculated by dividing the difference between expenditures in the highest-poverty districts from that in lowest-poverty districts by the expenditures in lowest-poverty districts. A positive percentage indicates that the highest-poverty districts spent more money per pupil than the lowest-poverty districts. A negative percentage indicates that the highest-poverty districts spent less money per pupil than the lowest-poverty districts.
2 Quartiles are not shown for states or jurisdictions where a single distict comprised 50 percent or more of the total state enrollment.
NOTE: Current expenditures were used in order to exclude expenditures for capital outlay, which tend to have substantial changes from year to year. The current expenditures are for public elementary and secondary education only, and exclude expenditures for adult education, community services, and other programs that are not allocable to expenditures per student in public schools. Current expenditures have been adjusted by subtracting all federal education revenues other than impact aid, since Impact Aid is intended as a substitute for foregone local or state revenue. The federal revenues other than Impact Aid were subtracted from current expenditures to examine the distribution of funds provided through state and local education finance systems. High- and low-poverty districts represent the top and bottom quartiles, respectively. Quartiles were calculated based on ranking regular local education agencies by poverty rate, calculated as the percentage of children ages 5–17 in families living below the poverty level. Quartiles are pupil weighted, meaning that each quartile contains approximately the same number of children.
Based on an assumption that additional per-pupil spending is appropriate to meet the additional needs of students in poverty, the Dashboard indicator weights the number of poor students, defaulting to a factor of 40% (taken from the Department's Title I formula) when calculating per-pupil expenditures. Users may use alternative weights, including no additional weight, if they prefer.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished tabulations based on U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, "Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates," 1997–98 and 2007–08; and U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," 1997–98 and 2007–08.
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