$28,000

[proud2BlibKansan]

Our supt has proposed closing 30 of the 60 schools in the district. His staff compiled a wealth of data and held 5 public forums this week where the data was shared and explained and the parents and community were allowed to address the supt and school board members with their concerns. The forums were each held in a different school and the schools in that particular neighborhood were discussed and the data for each school was shared with the public. (Test scores, condition of the building, occupancy, etc.)

One of the pieces of data they made available was the per pupil cost at every school in the district. I had no idea they looked at per pupil cost by school. It was very interesting.

We have a program that is a campus of 3 schools, serving PK through 12th grade. This program is a 'contract school' with its own board. It is kind of like a charter in that it operates as an independent school with its own board, but the school district funds it and the teachers are employees of the district. Its high school building is only 25% occupied and the supt is proposing that all 12 grades be moved into the high school building.

One of the buildings this school is using is a 6th grade center. It has 67 kids and the per pupil cost for this building is $28,000. Yes, $28,000. The nearest elementary school in the district that is not a part of this contract school has a per pupil cost of just under $13,000. I didn't see an average per pupil cost for the entire district but it looks like it can't be more than around $12,000.

$12,000 seems high but IMO, $28,000 is INSANE. The school district will be broke in June of 2011 if they don't close schools but they are spending $28,000 per pupil in one building.

Here's a article about the parents from this contract school at the forum where their school was discussed: http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1758697.html

[napi21]

1. I've heard #'s on avg. much less than that. I don't know anything about

your school dists. or even where they are, but even $12,000 per student is high!

I sus[ect you are in a rather rural community or a very low occupied State. I've always lived in large cities and there simply couldn;t have been any school with only 67 stedents, even if it were half empty! It soundes like their plan to close /2 of them is a good idea.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. It's an urban district

17,000 kids in 60 buildings.

[FBaggins]

3. " serving PK through 12th grade"

That's pretty stunning. I can't imagine that being a good idea, especially if it doesn't lend itself to keeping disparate age groups apart.

$12,000 seems high but IMO, $28,000 is INSANE.

From your description, it's almost certainly the case that the bulk of that is due to the small number of students carrying a disproportianate share of PPE costs and administration expenses. I can't imagine it would be anything like that high if they fill the school up.

You see the same kind of disparity when republicans talk about how much is spent per pupil on DC students (with lousy results). They were (perhaps are) the most expensive public system (on a per-pupil basis). But a disproportianatly high percentage of that is the high property costs (for crumbling schools).

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. It's a huge building

It doesn't seem like a problem housing all those grade levels.

They gave a projection of per pupil cost if they put all the kids in that one building and it was considerably lower. Sorry, didn't write it down so I can't remember.