School Funding -- National Data -- Includes North Dakota Data -- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Update

By the way, this is why North Dakota students do so well in history: "we" no longer have US-public-school-trained teachers teaching history. Rather, our students learn history through "the history teachers":

Henry VIII, thehistoryteachers

Original Post

I think it was yesterday that I posted that there were 272 new students in the Williston school district -- I was told that in a passing conversation and I have not confirmed that, and exactly what district(s) that all includes. Be that as it may, it changes a bit of my perspective on what is going on in Williston.

I have been parrotting the "general consensus" that new folks coming into the area will not bring their families (for whatever reason), and that once the work goes away (20 years from now), the single men and geographically separated husbands and fathers will return to their homes.

Whether "272" is exactly correct or not, the number comes from a reliable source. In addition, there will be new folks moving in throughout the year, although the number will be significantly less during the winter/school year.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that for most families, their number one concern is their children: their children's health, their education, and their environment (i.e., safe and stimulating).

North Dakota, in general, and Williston, specifically, have always had a great reputation with regard to the elementary, middle and high schools. I believe there was a recent story published that compared North Dakota college admission test scores and the state as a whole did very, very well. In the past, some have argued the results were skewed because the tests were taken only by those heading to college. It is my understanding that North Dakota now requires all students to take the ACT test. But I digress.

The purpose of this post is to direct folks to something called the "Center on Budget and Policy Priorities," which published the funding outlook for schools on a statewide basis. The story was published last week.

This is the headline: New School Year Brings Steep Custs in State Funding for Schools

It's a great link and one should immediately look to where North Dakota sits with regard to funding. North Dakota was #1 in funding increase for 2012 over 2008, increasing by 24 percent. Iowa was second at 17 percent. Alaska was third at 14 percent and then it trailed off fairly quickly.  At the bottom: South Carolina, down 24 percent; Arizona, down 24%; California, down 23%, and so forth.

When you get to the site, there are some interesting data points, and/or graphs not shown:

1. How much in "raw dollars" does each state spend/student?
2. What is the high school graduation rate in each state? (Or any metric comparing success to dollars spent? There are no such metrics.)
3. For eye-catching results, the center chose to show FY08-FY12 as the first graphs -- the worse years of the recession. As you scroll down, the graphs farther down finally compare this year with last year.
4. No graphs of teacher/student ratio? Is funding going to teachers or to administration?

When you look at the graphs, one understands exactly why the current administration's new half-trillion dollar stimulus bill is focused on teachers and schools. These are some of the states with the largest percentage cuts in the past year: Illinois (-12%); Wisconsin (-10%); Califoria (-9%), and then Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York.  These are hugely important states going into the 2012 election year.

Again, the report focuses on FY08-FY12.