Alexandria ranks seventh out of more than 100 other Virginia school districts on how much it spent on teaching per student in fiscal year 2024, according to a report by Virginia Public Access Project.
Alexandria spends $16,733 in instructional spending per student, with all other spending per student at $5,901, according to the data shared by VPAP. There were 16,415 students in Alexandria public schools at the time, according to the report.
Ahead of Alexandria on the list on instructional spending per student are:
#1 Arlington County: $19,465/plus all other spending of $6,518 per student/ 27,534 students.
#2 Charlottesville: $18,495/$12,241/4,433 students
#3 Falls Church: $18,367/$6,742/2,616 students
#4 Highland: $18,232/$7,780/212 students
#5 Richmond City: $17,876/$6,893/21,259
#6 Winchester: 417,728/$3,389/4,236
Some of the localities that ranked below Alexandria include Fairfax County (ranked #9) and Loudoun County (#11).
New Kent County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the Commonwealth, came in last, spending $9,188 on instructional spending per student; spending $4,792 per student in all other spending, with a total of 3,536 students. The county's population in 2020 was 22,945 and is projected to increase to 30,740 by 2030, according to the county.
Information comes from the Virginai Auditor of Public Accounts (Spending from the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts Comparative Report of Local Government Revenues and Expenditures, Exhibit C-6, for fiscal year 2024) and School Enrollment from the Virginia Dept. of Education for 2023-2024 full time students.
The figures to calculate instructional spending per student were derived by taking total instructional spending divided by the number of full-time students enrolled, VPAP noted.
The nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project organizes information to foster transparency of money in politics to promote civic engagement.
