Examining area school system efficiency

In the four counties served by Mainstreet Newspapers (Jackson, Barrow, Banks and Madison counties), plus nearby Oconee County for balance, the most efficient school system in spending per student is the Jefferson City School System, which in FY2010 spent $7,169 per student. That is among schools with the lowest spending per student in the state.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Barrow County School System, which is the largest in the group with over 12,400 students, was second only to Jefferson in per student spending at $7,804, which is $1,000 less per student than the Jackson County system.

The Jackson County School System, which spent $8,875 per student in FY2010, $1,700 per student more than Jefferson, was the highest in the five-county area. It ranked the system 69th in the state in per student spending.

So what makes up the difference in spending? When broken down by spending areas, it becomes clear that some school systems spend much more on overhead expenses than other systems.

In “school administration” expenses, for example, the per student spending ranges from a low of $420 per student in Banks County to a high of $757 in the City of Commerce School System.

In “maintenance and overhead” costs, the range went from a low of $481 per student in Jefferson to a high of $786 per student in the Jackson County system.

Some of the differences in per student costs reflect a school system’s size as well as its spending habits.

The City of Commerce School System, for example, spent a high $513 per student in “general administrative” expenses; but the system only has 1,430 students to split up the cost of those core administrative expenses which exist in every school system.

Barrow County, for example, has 12,400 students to split those costs, which gave that system a low $163 per student cost in “general administrative” expenses.

Some records on Georgia school spending seem to suggest that one of the major differences in what schools spend per student today flows from how individual systems controlled their cost during the “boom” years.

The City of Jefferson system, for example, showed a 66 percent increase in overall student population during FY2003-2008, but during the same period only allowed its per student expense to climb 16 percent.

Likewise in Barrow County, where the system posted a 30 percent increase in students over that 5-year period, but only spent 17 percent more per student at the end of the time.

Compare that to the Jackson County system that had a 28 percent hike in students but a 38 percent jump in per student spending.

Banks County was even more startling with a 15 percent jump in students, but a whopping 43 percent hike in per student spending.

See a complete breakdown of area school systems in the Jan. 19 print edition of the Barrow Journal.