NASD Admin - Relative Bargain?

A reader took exception with me missing a database in the Morning Call related to school district administrative costs. I did report on the Governor's proposal, but didn't see the accompanying database. In the future, don't get mad at me - just send an email and let me know it is there:-)

I did find what the reader referenced. I believe you can directly access the NorCo data here).

In Summary

In 07-08 out Nazareth ranked 84th out of 501 districts statewide and of the 17 districts in the Lehigh Valley, we ranked 5th in administrative cost per student, spending $612.85. This amount represented 5.2% of our overall budget.

In 09-10 our spending will increase to $701.35 and this amount will represent 5.5% of our overall budget.

Obviously, all the districts will change, but in the data survey for 07-08, the $700 per student figure was in the 200 ranking range. Not a fair comparison, I only point it out for reference.

The Detail:

Relative Bargain - Then (2007-08)

Nazareth & Northampton County

Using 2007-08 data, the administrative cost was divided by the number of students to determine the administrative cost per student. The data shows Nazareth ranked 84 out of 501 districts, and number 1 in Northampton County (NorCo). We had a $55.9M budget, $2.9M on Admin, 4,732 students, and this calculated to $621.09 per student. I get $612.85 when I divide the admin costs by number of students, so theoretically we could be ranked even higher.

In other NorCo schools, Wilson, Saucon, Pen Argyl, Bangor, and Easton were all in the 223-369 range with Saucon at the low end. Bethlehem and Northampton were 130 and 165, respectively.

Also of interest to me would be the Administrative Cost as a percent of total budget. Looking at this figure, Nazareth was 5.2%, Northampton 5.2%, Easton 5.4%, Bethlehem 5.5%, Saucon 5.8%, and Bangor 6.0%. These are obviously pretty tight, within 1% of one another.

Lehigh County

Lehigh County was a different story. Allentown ranked 13th, Parkland 28th, Whitehall 42nd, and East Penn 62nd. The other schools ranked from 209 to 390, these were mostly small schools. As a percent the same schools were at 5.1%, 4.5%, 5.5%, and 4.8% - again within 1% of one another, but on the whole lower than NorCo.

Other data in the survey included teacher salary, but this was not apples to apples, as Nazareth was 7th out of 12 using data from 2005-06 compared to 06-07 for everyone else.

Relative Bargain - Now (2009-10)

Move ahead to 2009-2010 budget. Expenditure Function 2300 - Support Services - Administration is listed at $3,520 compared to $2,939 in 2007-08. The 07-08 total expense line is $55,857 and 09-10 is $64,000. The 07-08 enrollment is listed at 4817 and the 09-10 projection is 5019.

Based on 5019 students, the Admin as a percent of budget is 5.5% (an increase of .3%) and per student is $701.35 (an increase of $88.49 using my math) per student.