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Photo Vincent Guadazno
Lisa Kiefer teaches a middle school English class at PHS. |
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Teachers' salaries dominate education costs
Kevin Mullaney
BANNER CORRESPONDENT
In Provincetown, everything seems to cost more - and that seems especially true when it comes to education.
Provincetown will spend $3.8 million this year on its school system, a third of the town's $11-plus million total budget. With 328 students, that's an average of $11,487 per student this year, $60 per student per day. The town spends over $15,000 a year for every special needs student. And more than four of every five dollars spent on education goes to salaries.
To see how Provincetown compares to other school districts, the latest figures available from the Dept. of Education are for FY '98 (September '97 through June '98).
Provincetown was the highest in the state for the cost of teachers per student. The statewide average is $3,371. Provincetown spent $5,924 on teachers, $2,500 per student more than the state average. Only five other towns exceeded $5,000 per pupil on teachers: Wellfleet was second at $5,485, followed by Cambridge, Nantucket, Lincoln and Worcester Trade.
Provincetown is not the smallest town in school population. Out of the 351 cities and towns, 63 have enrollments of 500 students or less and 43 have less than 400 - 13 have under 100, 20 from 100-200, 13 from 200-300, and 18 from 300-400. Provincetown is the 48th smallest in the number of students, although almost all of the others are strictly elementary schools with regional middle and high schools. Interestingly, only four towns with up to 500 students exceeded $3 million in expenditures. West Tisbury (499 students) is highest at over $4.4 million, then Provincetown, Huntington (a town with no school of its own) and Wellfleet (379 students).
The latest state figures on special needs (from two years ago) show Provincetown spending 17.2 percent of its budget in this area. Thirty-seven districts spent that or a higher percentage. Pelham, with 143 students, was highest at 26.3 percent. The city of Boston was fifth, spending more than 20 percent of its $500-plus million school budget on special needs. Both Springfield and New Bedford are above Provincetown. The variety of school districts statewide makes it difficult to make direct comparisons. There are no school systems as small as Provincetown that provide kindergarten through 12th grade, with two schools. The overall enrollment projected for this year is 328: 147 in the elementary school (grades K-6), 55 in the middle school (grades 7 and 8) and 123 in the high school (37 seniors, 22 juniors, 23 sophomores and 39 freshmen). Four students attend Cape Tech., 79 students (24 percent) are in special ed., two of them in residential programs.
This year's budget is $3,767,948. It is level-funded from last year. $1.6 million (44 percent) goes for the high school, about $1.2 million (32 percent) for the elementary school, $731,000 (19 percent) for special needs education and $178,000 (5 percent) for the superintendent's office.
As far as state aid goes, Provincetown will net $204,293 this year, just over 5 percent of the school budget. The town received $192,919 last year and $139,899 the year before (FY '98).
By far the largest budget item is salaries - administrators, teachers, aides, substitutes, guidance, custodians, cafeteria workers. Eighty-six percent of the elementary school spending, a little over $1 million dollars, goes to salaries; 81 percent ($1.3 million) for the high school and 81 percent ($593,000) for the special needs program. Teaching salaries alone are 68 percent for the elementary school ($701,000), 64 percent for the high school ($851,000) and special needs is 69 percent ($505,884).
Nineteen percent of education funds go to special needs. There are two special needs programs, one in the high school and one in the elementary, with shared administrative supervision. Supervision cost $92,000 (over $86,000 being salaries). The high school special needs program costs more, $343,000, compared to $295,000 for the elementary. Other than salaries, there are only two large budget items in the special needs programs: psychological services ($26,000 for elementary, $14,800 for PHS) and, for the high school only, a $60,000 line item for programs with non-public schools.
Looking at the numbers of students in special ed. last year, out of all the districts with under 500 students, only two are higher than Provincetown in the percentage of special ed. students - Richmond Elementary, with 195 students, had 36 percent, and Erving, an elementary school with 126 students, had 29 percent. Provincetown had 21.6 percent.
The average cost statewide for each special needs student is $9,873. Provincetown, at $15,175, is the 12th highest overall. Number one is Leverett, a K-6 school with 162 students in Miller's Falls, at a whopping $25,909 per student. Wellfleet Elementary is second at $23,919. Rowe, a K-6 elementary school with 45 students in Shelburne Falls, is third; then there's Chicopee, Hancock, Chatham ($17,498), Concord-Carlisle, Manchester, Truro (ninth at $16,115), Lincoln-Sudbury, Concord and Provincetown. Only 14 schools exceed $15,000 per special needs pupil; another nine exceed $14,000. Other Cape schools with a high special ed. cost are Eastham (13th at $15,104) and Nantucket (14th at $14,296).
Statewide, excluding vocational schools, the average cost per pupil was $6,361 in FY '98. Provincetown, costing $10,409 per student, $4,000 per student more than the state average, was not the most expensive school. Rowe, which is up there in all categories, was highest, at $13,349 per student. Unexpectedly, Cambridge, a massive system with over 7,200 students in 14 elementary schools, one middle school and a high school, was the second most expensive at $10,814. Martha's Vineyard (high school), with 743 students, is third at $10,558. Provincetown was fourth. Only nine school districts spend more than $10,000 per pupil overall. The only other Cape school was Wellfleet Elementary, the eighth highest, at $10,155.
Provincetown ranks the 12th highest in cost per pupil for regular day programs, basically meaning not including special needs. The highest in this category, again, was Rowe, at $11,501. Dover-Sherborn (888 students), Concord-Carlisle (938 students), Martha's Vineyard, Cambridge and Lincoln-Sudbury (1,127 students) follow, each costing more than $9,000 per regular day student. Provincetown was next at $8,624 per student. Only a dozen of 307 districts cost more than $8,000 per student, and only nine others exceed $7,000. The average statewide is $5,221.
Regional school districts cost less per student. The 54 regional school districts in Massachusetts expend $4,138 per student, on the average, in total instruction. The 247 city and town school districts average about $125 per kid more than the regionals, $4,262 per student per year. And, as you would expect, vocational schools (29 total) cost more, almost $2,200 per student more at $6,402.
In the instructional cost per student Provincetown was the highest, almost $3,200 per student higher than the average, at $7,546. In addition, Provincetown spent more per pupil on instruction than all but four of the vocationals - basically, the most expensive school system in the state in this category. The only other city or town district above $7,000 per student is Cambridge ($7,031), by far the most expensive large system. Only eight districts exceed $6,000 per student. Five of those eight are on the Cape and islands: Nantucket ($6,982), Wellfleet ($6,947), Tisbury ($6,330), Chatham ($6,227) and Edgartown ($6,122).
Provincetown was not among the highest in all categories, particularly in guidance and textbooks, the two categories where Provincetown spends less than the state average. The town was 112th in the amount spent on guidance per student. The average was $138. Provincetown spent $105. Provincetown was 84th out of city and town districts in dollars spent on texts per student. The average was $59, Provincetown spent $46. Twelve towns spent more than $100 per student on texts. Holyoke, the highest at $237 per student, was the only district to exceed $200. Orleans was third at $142 and Mashpee spent $122. The big cities of Boston, Lowell and Lawrence each spent over $100 per student on books.
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Swashbuckling Clifford has new irons in the fire
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Mar 23rd, 2000