Relationship between school district size and patterns of school expenditures

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between school district size and spending for instructional and administrative costs. This report expands on existing research topical to school funding issues, such as: economies and diseconomies of scale; ideal school/district size; expenditures per pupil; adequacy and equity; and school consolidation. Testing existing datasets from Oklahoma school districts and their coded expenditures, this study explored and answered three research questions: 1. Is there a significant relationship between school district size and instructional expenses? 2. Is there a significant relationship between school district size and administrative expenses? 3. Have these relationships changed over time? This study employed multiple regression tests conducted in SPSS. Each test included the same nine independent variables: average daily membership (ADM), the natural log of ADM, school district type, free/reduced lunch percentage, students per square mile, assessed property value, percent of district revenue from the state, percent of district revenue from the federal government, and total dollars spent per student. The first question was answered using 2010-11 school year data and running two tests – first on percent of total expenditures on instruction, then on dollars per pupil spent on instruction. The second question was answered using 2010-11 school year data and running two more tests – first on percent of total expenditures on administrative costs, then on dollars per pupil spent on administrative costs. Finally, the third question was answered running these same four tests with 2005-06 and 2000-01 data, then comparing the results against those from the 2010-11 tests.