02 May 2015

Administrative Costs per Pupil Compared to District Size in Utah 2013-2014

These most recent statistics compiled from the Utah Taxpayers Association "School Spending Report: Fiscal Year 2013-2014," April 2015 verifies the conclusions of my previous study comparing administrative costs per student to size of district (with the possible change of the number from 1000 to 2000 in student population). This graph shows that while the smallest districts (under 2000) do have higher administrative costs, as stated on the original study: "Administrative costs bear little, if any, correlation to size of districts over 1,000 students".

Administrative costs, rather than a function of size, are a reflection of decisions made by local boards of education or administrators. Usually the more money they accept from federal government programs, the more they spend in administrative costs per pupil due to government requirements.

The main point is: the assumption that bigger is less expensive with administrative costs is simply not true unless comparing to a district that is very small (like below 2000 students). It is certainly not a reason to avoid dividing a big district into a few community-sized districts. Dividing would not, by itself, cause administrative costs to rise. If they rose it would be for other reasons, such as a community's desires for another program, etc.

To be more specific, Cache School District has the lowest costs and is about the size that a Lehi School District would be. Alpine (72,419) is 2nd, but Tooele (14,107), South Sanpete (3462), Logan (5987), and Iron (8685) all have less administrative costs per pupil than Jordan or Davis SD. Box Elder (11,131) and tiny Juab (2287) are lower than Granite, Salt Lake, and Nebo.

District Student Population Admin $/student
Cache 16038 $ 491.00
Alpine 72419 $ 521.00
Tooele 14107 $ 540.00
So. Sanpete 3462 $ 555.00
Logan 5987 $ 556.00
Iron 8685 $ 578.00
Jordan 52855 $ 594.00
Davis 68573 $ 595.00
Box Elder 11131 $ 596.00
Washington 27099 $ 614.00
Juab 2287 $ 619.00
Granite 68106 $ 623.00
Salt Lake 23965 $ 637.00
Morgan 2632 $ 652.00
Nebo 31230 $ 658.00
Weber 31028 $ 658.00
Sevier 4585 $ 676.00
Uintah 7591 $ 697.00
Murray 6435 $ 745.00
Duchesne 5021 $ 747.00
Wasatch 5786 $ 757.00
Ogden 12489 $ 759.00
Millard 2841 $ 799.00
Provo 14799 $ 813.00
Canyons 33674 $ 901.00
No. Summit 990 $ 972.00
So. Summit 1495 $ 979.00
Carbon 3369 $ 1,102.00
San Juan 3020 $ 1,106.00
Grand 1455 $ 1,128.00
Beaver 1579 $ 1,159.00
Park City 4630 $ 1,315.00
Kane 1212 $ 1,360.00
Emery 2310 $ 1,370.00
Wayne 501 $ 1,512.00
Garfield 930 $ 1,554.00
Tintic 250 $ 2,026.00
Rich 479 $ 2,325.00
Piute 304 $ 2,380.00
Daggett 194 $ 2,825.00