WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- Public school spending per student went down in 2011 for the first time since the Census Bureau began tracking it, the bureau said Tuesday.
The bureau's "Public Education Finance: 2011" reported that in 2011 the 50 states and the District of Columbia spent $10,560 per student, down 0.4 percent from 2010. It was the first time the average has fallen since 1977 when the bureau first reported on school spending.
There were big differences across the country with New York spending an average of $19,076 per student and Utah at the other extreme, spending $6,212 per student. Generally, states in the Northeast spent more than those in the South and West, although Alaska at $16,674 was third after New York and the District of Columbia.
Total spending dropped for the second year in a row to $595.1 billion. That was a 1.1 decrease from 2010.
The total for 2011 spending was $522.1 billion. Instruction got 60.6 percent of that, $316.3 billion, while 34.2 percent, $178.7 billion, went to support services.
School revenues increased 1.1 percent from 2010 to $599.1 billion. State governments contributed $265.9 billion or 44.4 percent, followed by local governments at $259.5 billion (43.3 percent) and the federal government $73.7 billion (12.3 percent).
