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California is still knocking about the bottom in per student K-12 spending at 46th among the states and Washington, D.C., according to Education Week’s much anticipated annual survey. That’s one better than the 47th ranking last year. It might have been spared 51st because Ed Week used data from 2007, before fiscal disaster struck.
Ed Week adjusts spending to reflect regional costs of living, which is one reason why high-cost California ranks so low. In terms of unadjusted dollars, it ranked 24th, according to the last National Education Association survey.
California spent $8,164 in adjusted dollars in 2007, according to Ed Week. That’s half of the $16,386 spent by top-ranked Wyoming, and $2,400 less than the national average. Beating California to the dubious honors were Arizona ($8,010), Texas ($7,934), Nevada ($7,845), Tennessee ($7,756) and Utah ($6,228).
The state spends 3.5 prcent of its total taxable resources on education — about 10 percent less than the national average of 3.8 percent.
Despite this, California’s overall grade in school finance was a C. That’s because it funds schools about as equitably – even if inadequately – as most other states. Most districts’ per student funding is within 10 percent of the state average, although there are also several dozen wealthy districts, funded solely by their own property taxes, that generate thousands of dollars more per student.
California’s average teacher salaries are the highest in the nation, which also explains why ranks near the bottom is student-teacher ratio.
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