The findings highlight a lesser-known reality about Arizona’s public education system: Evidence shows AZ school districts, generally, have relatively lean operations
ARIZONA, USA — A new financial breakdown of classroom spending in Arizona shows charter schools spent twice as much as district schools on administrative costs.
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The Arizona Superintendent’s Annual Classroom Spending Report concludes charter schools spend an average of 22% of their budgets on administration. District schools spend an average of 11%.
The findings align with previous annual reports and highlight a lesser-known reality about Arizona’s public education system: While state leaders typically debate school district administration spending, there is less discussion about overhead costs for charter schools.
How to define “Administration”
Charter schools are private businesses that receive taxpayer funds to operate. They have greater flexibility with their budgets and are not under the same regulations as non-charters. About 20% of Arizona students attend charter schools.
The state defines “Administration” as costs associated with:
administering policy for the operation of the district or charter
business operations
school level administration
other central support services
The category includes principals, assistant principals, clerical staff, front office staff, directors of curriculum and special ed, human resources and business operations.
Why it matters
A common narrative among some political leaders is that school districts spend excessively on administration. Public education advocates say although there are isolated examples of misspending, they believe that narrative is misleading.
“It’s a narrative that fuels misinformation about school districts and how they spend their money. We haven’t explained well enough that over time employee benefit expenses go up, air conditioning costs go up, digital needs cost more, and it goes on and on,” said Marisol Garcia, President of the Arizona Education Association.
A 12News analysis in 2023 also suggests Arizona school districts spend less on administration than most states. It showed Arizona spent 56% of the national average on the following categories: district office, superintendent, CFO, principals, clerical staff and directors of departments.
But state lawmakers want more scrutiny. This month Republican senators passed a bill to require charters and districts to publicly disclose an annual ledger of expenses and revenues. They cited a recent financial scandal in the Isaac School District.
“It’s clear that we must implement stricter reporting requirements after the abuse within some of our school districts,” said state Sen. Carine Werner, R-District 4.
Other categories of spending
The report also analyzes classroom supplies and instruction expenses. Both districts and charter schools spend the same percentage (50%). Another category where they differ is Other Support Services. Districts spend 28% of their budgets in that category. Charters spend 19%.
Other Support Services includes transportation and food services.
“It makes sense to me that charters spend significantly less on ‘other support services’ as they’re not required to provide transportation and many do not participate in the National School Lunch Program, the two largest contributors to this category,” said Anabel Aportela, a financial consultant who has worked with charter and district schools.
Charter schools, nonetheless receive state funding for transportation. A 12News analysis showed the ADE allocated $274 per student for transportation to charter schools in 2021.
Another point of difference is Student Support Services. Charters spend 7% of their budgets on that category while districts spend 10%. Those services include librarians, special education services, social workers and counselors.
About 11% of charter enrollment is online, compared to .5% of school districts.
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools has not responded to requests for comment.
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