School finance at the student level: Resource allocation and use in a public elementary school

he purpose of this study was to make an effort to analyze actual spending per pupil at a high performing, upper class, suburban, elementary school. Once identified, these spending patterns were analyzed for inequities between students and comparisons between programs and other categories. It was anticipated that the most beneficial outcome of this study would be the establishment of a baseline for future student spending studies. This study was one of 17 other school site studies. These studies could eventually lead to longitudinal measures of student spending and be coupled with efforts to measure student outcomes longitudinally.;The study addressed the following research questions: (1) What is the expenditure per student within an elementary school? (2) How much variation exists in expenditure per student? (3) What factors contribute to variation in the expenditure per student?;Expenditures were calculated for each of the 537 students at a traditional calendar Kindergarten through Fifth grade suburban elementary school. The study assigned the just over 3 million dollars that the school expended individually to each of these students. The expenditure per student was calculated into four separate expenditure figures; the direct classroom expenditure per student, the direct school expenditure for regular plus supplemental instructional overall school programs, the indirect school expenditure including all district and external funds as a total per student expenditure, and finally all indirect district per student expenditures. Each student attending the elementary school had an assigned per student expenditure in these four categories.;This study described student level spending derived from particularized data gathering and data entry. The data analysis of student level expenditures revealed some interesting findings. Teacher compensation, class size and support programs were found to be the strongest factors contributing to variation in per-pupil expenditure. Analysis of expenditure per pupil exhibited variation as a direct function of teacher experience and placement on the salary schedule. Class size reduction (CSR) of 20 students or less in Kindergarten through third grades increased the per-pupil expenditure in these classes significantly. The costs of special education especially Special Day Class students and English Language Learners exceeded the overall average of all students at the school.;The average expenditure per student at this school was...