Rural districts in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah spend more per student and hire more staff per 100 students than neighboring city and suburban districts, according to a report released last month by the Institute of Educational Sciences.
Published by the IES’s National Center for Educational Evaluation and Regional Assistance, the study found that regional characteristics in those rural Western districts—factors such as student-population density or drive time to the nearest urban area—were more closely linked to higher rural spending than commonly cited cost factors like longer bus rides or greater student need.
The study also found that those rural areas had higher overhead ratios of district-to-school-level resources than nonrural school systems.
