The numbers for Arlington don't add up.

For example, the reported $740 per capita FY11 education spending reported above, multiplied by the 42,844 population (in Pioneer's tool) imlies that Arlington's education budget was $31,704,560 for FY11.

Arlington's school budget for FY11 is somewhere around $44M, with the Town appropriation about $37M (after the financial misdeeds of FY10). See source material here:

http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/administration/budget/fy11/fy11budgetbookfinal10-21-10.pdf

You know some sort of financial legerdemain is taking place by looking at the table above and seeing that Arlington's per capita spending went from $979 in FY09 to $740 in FY11. We all know Arlington's population didn't change dramatically over that period in time, and that school spending has never seen a decrease, certainly not the 24% decrease over two years the above table suggests.

The Pioneer's institute's tool has a disclaimer:

"The spending figures presented below are based on the general funds spent by a municipality on education. General funds cover only a portion of a pupil's education cost, and that portion varies widely among the state's cities and towns."

which partially explains why the difference might exist.

Popping the table into a spreadsheet and calculating the 2yr percent change is revealing. Most towns (and the state median) show single digit changes, while Arlington's -24% decrease is the largest, followed by Melrose (-22%), Medford (-16%) and Malden (-16%).

Lexington's $2,168 per capita spending (multiplied by 31,394 residents) implies a $68M education budget, very close to the actual $69 budget for FY11 reported here:

http://lps.lexingtonma.org/cms/lib2/MA01001631/Centricity/Domain/365/SCFY12Budget/FY12SCBudgetSummary.pdf

As well, Lexington's per capita spending is remarkably stable, changing but 2% over the two year period.

So what gives? This report and table is meaningless and merely highlights the poor financial accounting that is found throughout Arlington's financial reports.

Hi Daniel,

The difference is probably due to how different town's account for health care, pension and capital expenditures. For example, Arlington's reported education budget is about $50M, but that does not include about $15M in pension and health insurance costs or the several million dollars a years in capital expenses related to school rebuilding and renovations.

The Federal stimulus money is small potatoes compared to these accounting differences between municipalities.

Using an all-in number, including pension, health benefits and capital expenses; Arlington spends about $70M a year on education, or a per capita amount of about $1,634 per year. For some more info look at the Mass Department of Education website for Arlington's financial profile here:

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/finance.aspx?orgcode=00100000&orgtypecode=5&;

Don't forget the more than 20% increase in Arlington's school budget from FY11 to FY13 due to the enormous override.

Am i missing something here? I see that for 2010 the School expenses were $41,084,134 and the total population was 41,724, which gives you the 2010 per capita amount of $985, which you can see above.

If i now use the 2011 amount of $39,615,647 (from the worksheet linked from Daniel above) and the same population of 41,724, the per capita amount would be $949. If the expense number is correct, the population would have to be 53,545 in order to get to the /4740 per capita amount listed above.

The numbers are just not tying, unless I have made a mistake, which is quite possible.

oh, sorry the 2nd to last line should say $740 per capita amount

The underlying assumption is bogus and flawed. The important numbers would be dollars spent per enrolled student. I for obe LIKE the direction of the number! Too much money is thrown at edcation that fors not benefit the student. The unionised teachers are lazy and dont go the extra mile. There is too much focus on college prep. We need better education for fewer dollars!