winterblues
Member
Hi Everyone!
As a parent of a child in IUSD (daughter attends Woodbury elementary), I've noticed how active the Irvine Public School Foundation is with fundraising, which prompted me to do a bit of research on school funding and expenditures.
I know very little about K-12 school funding, but I did pull the School Accountability report cards for 2 elementary schools as a basis for comparison. I pulled the data for Stonegate elementary (IUSD, regarded as one of the best elementary schools in the district) and for Hicks Canyon elementary (Northpark community in Irvine but zoned to TUSD).
Here is what I found:
Stonegate Elementary: Across 6 grades, average class size around 32 students. Total expenditures per pupil was $5,062
Hicks Canyon Elementary: Across 5 grades, average class size around 25 students. Total expenditures per pupil was $10,510.
I also read the budget report for IUSD from the Superintendent and there were several slides indicating that IUSD gets much less funding from the state than other districts (I'm assuming because of high property taxes here?).
Can anyone explain why IUSD is considered superior to TUSD when they spend so much less per student than TUSD and have bigger class sizes? My understanding is that more school funding usually translates to better outcomes (though I know this is complex). Does the Irvine Public Schools Foundation do so much fundraising that it offsets the lower state funding in IUSD? And perhaps those foundation funds aren't reflected in the pupil expenditures amount?
If anyone knows more about this, I'd really appreciate any insight you can provide. I also have a call in to the IUSD fiscal services department but haven't received a call back yet.
As a parent of a child in IUSD (daughter attends Woodbury elementary), I've noticed how active the Irvine Public School Foundation is with fundraising, which prompted me to do a bit of research on school funding and expenditures.
I know very little about K-12 school funding, but I did pull the School Accountability report cards for 2 elementary schools as a basis for comparison. I pulled the data for Stonegate elementary (IUSD, regarded as one of the best elementary schools in the district) and for Hicks Canyon elementary (Northpark community in Irvine but zoned to TUSD).
Here is what I found:
Stonegate Elementary: Across 6 grades, average class size around 32 students. Total expenditures per pupil was $5,062
Hicks Canyon Elementary: Across 5 grades, average class size around 25 students. Total expenditures per pupil was $10,510.
I also read the budget report for IUSD from the Superintendent and there were several slides indicating that IUSD gets much less funding from the state than other districts (I'm assuming because of high property taxes here?).
Can anyone explain why IUSD is considered superior to TUSD when they spend so much less per student than TUSD and have bigger class sizes? My understanding is that more school funding usually translates to better outcomes (though I know this is complex). Does the Irvine Public Schools Foundation do so much fundraising that it offsets the lower state funding in IUSD? And perhaps those foundation funds aren't reflected in the pupil expenditures amount?
If anyone knows more about this, I'd really appreciate any insight you can provide. I also have a call in to the IUSD fiscal services department but haven't received a call back yet.