Michael B. Sauter, Thomas C. Frohlich, Sam Stebbins and Evan Comen
24/7 Wall St.
Many factors determine the quality of education in a particular state, including federal, state, and local funding levels, the curriculum, and teacher and staff quality. A district's wealth, however, is often a very good indicator of how well the area's students are likely to perform.
In San Perlita, Texas, the poorest school district in the United States, the median annual household income is just $16,384, or less than a third of the national median income level. A typical household in the Scarsdale, New York, school district earns $238,478 per year. The quality of life for the 291 students in San Perlita and the 4,721 in Scarsdale is likely very different. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the wealthiest and poorest school districts in the country.
Property taxes play a significant part in the funding of school districts, and for this reason, the public school systems in the nation's wealthiest districts are among the best funded in the country. Nationally, public schools spend an annual average of $10,700 per pupil. In eight of the 10 wealthiest districts, spending is at least $20,000 per pupil.
The poorest districts pull in relatively scant funding from local sources, but this does not mean these districts are necessarily underfunded. In fact, half of the 10 poorest districts spend more on average than the national average per pupil spending. This is largely because state and federal funding, which is often targeted to economically disadvantaged areas, can make up much of the difference.
Nationally, an average of 45.3% of total school funding comes from local sources. Only in one of the poorest districts does local spending account for more than 20% of the district's budget. In those same districts, state sources account for an average of 66% of total funding, and federal sources account for 18.1% of funding on average. Nationwide, state funding comes to 45.6% of total funding, and federal funding comes to just 9.1%.
Income has a strong correlation with educational achievement on a national level, and that is the case in these districts as well. There is a correlation between students who come from wealthier households and their achievements and graduation rates, likely because of the many advantages they receive. The majority of the wealthiest districts have at least a 95% graduation rate. Only two of the 10 poorest districts have graduation rates higher than 75%.
Policymakers cite to the importance of funding for student achievement. But the districts that receive large state and federal funding to make up for low local sources, primarily property taxes and parent contributions, highlight the fact that funding is often not enough to make up for the inequalities in a region that lead to poor achievement.
Sterling Lloyd, senior researcher with national education newspaper Education Week, explained that the relationship between funding and achievement is a complex and controversial one. "There's no consensus in the research about the precise role of school spending for student achievement. It's a perennial debate. You can find studies that indicate there is a relationship between funding and student achievement, and you can find studies that say there isn't a relationship." Sterling added that in addition to family poverty, policies related to teacher quality and spending can also make a significant difference.
To identify the richest and poorest school districts in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the districts with the 10 highest and 10 lowest median household incomes among the 9,627 U.S. school districts serving at least 250 students from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). School spending figures, which do not include private education spending, are as of the end of 2013 and come from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of School System Finances. Graduation rates come from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
These are the richest school districts in America.
1. Scarsdale Union Free School District, N.Y.
> Median household income: $238,478
> Student enrollment: 4,721
> State per pupil spending: $19,818
> District per pupil spending: $25,831
Households in the Scarsdale Union Free School District are the wealthiest in the nation, with a median annual income of $238,478, or 4.5 times greater than the comparable national median income of $53,046. Wealthy areas are frequently home to wealthy school districts largely because of the higher collected tax revenues locally. The district spends $17,772 per pupil annually on instruction alone, several times the national average instruction expenditure of $6,480. Scarsdale is located 24 miles from New York City, between the Bronx and Hutchinson Rivers. High-paying jobs in the metro area likely account for the high wages in the district.
Not only do prosperous communities frequently offer well-funded school districts, but also the healthy economic circ*mstances help improve education outcomes. Of the nearly 10,000 U.S. school districts reviewed, only Mountain Lakes Borough, New Jersey has a higher college attainment rate than Scarsdale, where 85.9% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree.
2. Weston School District, Conn.
> Median household income: $207,262
> Student enrollment: 2,479
> State per pupil spending: $16,631
> District per pupil spending: $20,636
Located in the affluent Fairfield County in Connecticut, a suburban region of New York City, Weston is one of the wealthiest school districts in the country, with a median annual household income in excess of $205,000 and a poverty rate of just 1.8%. By comparison, the national median income is $53,046 and the poverty rate is 15.4%. Home values are also very high in the area, with the typical home valued at $880,800. A large share of school funding comes from property taxes, and the high property values have resulted in a large share of school funding coming from local sources. An average of just 12.1% of the region's school funding comes from state or federal sources. As is usually the case with wealthy school districts, educational attainment in Weston is extremely high. Nationally, an estimated 28.8% of adults have a at least bachelor's degree. In Weston, 82.2% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, higher than in all but a handful of districts.
3. Piedmont City Unified School District, Calif.
> Median household income: $207,222"
> Student enrollment: 2,552
> State per pupil spending: $9,220
> District per pupil spending: $12,474
Compared to other wealthy school districts, Piedmont City Unified School District, outside San Francisco, does not rely heavily on local sources for funding. Nearly 39% of school budgets comes from state sources, lower than the national proportion but several times higher than the comparable shares in other wealthy school districts. Even though residents are some of the wealthiest in the nation and own some of the most valuable homes — the median home value is more than $1 million — the education expenditure is relatively low. Piedmont City spends $12,474 per pupil, higher than the national expenditure, but half as much as most other school districts on this list.
4. Darien School District, Conn.
> Median household income: $205,688
> Student enrollment: 4,815
> State per pupil spending: $16,631
> District per pupil spending: $17,868
The Darien school district is one of the nation's two wealthiest districts located in Connecticut. With a median annual household income of $205,688, Darien is the fourth wealthiest school district in the nation. The Darien public school system spent $12,356 per pupil on instruction alone, nearly double the national average expenditure on instruction. Given the significant investment in public education in the district, parents were less likely than most to send their children to private school. Only 14.5% of students in Darien are enrolled in private school, a smaller share than the 16.5% of American students. Like many of the nation's wealthiest school districts, Darien gets a very small share of its funding from the federal government. While 85% of public school funding comes from local sources that include tax revenue and parent contributions, less than 1% comes from federal sources.
5. Chappaqua Central School District, N.Y.
> Median household income: $196,655
> Student enrollment: 4,068
> State per pupil spending: $19,818
> District per pupil spending: $26,251
Chappaqua Central School District is one of six among the 10 best-funded districts located outside New York City. The median annual household income of $196,655 is well more than three times the national median income of $53,046. As incomes increase so does the likelihood of owning a home. In the Chappaqua area, 91.9% of housing units are owned by their occupants, one of the highest homeownership rates. And these homes are some of the most valuable homes in the nation, with median value of $872,900. The high home values contributed to local sources of school funding, which accounted for 86.5% of total school district spending. In contrast, 45.3% of school funding comes from local sources nationwide. In total, the district spends $26,251 per pupil annually versus the national average of $10,700.
24/7 Wall St. is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
