CURRENT EXPENSE PER PUPIL ATTENDING FULL-TIME DAY
SCHOOLS IN THE AVERAGE CITY OF EACH GROUP FOR VARIOUS
YEARS

1 From Office of Education circulars or pamphlets entitled, "Per Capita Costs in City Schools" for the
various years indicated.

COST PER PUPIL FOR EACH CURRENT EXPENSE ITEM IN VARIOUS
YEARS

During the past 7 years the pupil cost for each of the major items
of current expense was greatest in 1930 in all cities except those in
the highest population group. In the cities of 100,000 population and
more this was also true for the cost of general control, operation, and
maintenance. In the cities of the highest population group, however,
the greatest pupil cost for instruction, auxiliary agencies, and fixed
charges was in 1932. During these years the lowest cost of all items
excepting instruction was in the cities of group III, where for general
control it was $2.60 in 1935 and also in 1937, and $7.77 for operation
of plant in 1935; $1.45 for maintenance of plant and $1.69 for auxil-
iary agencies in 1933; and $1.15 in 1937 for fixed charges.

The following table presents the per pupil cost for each current ex-
pense item in various years:

COST PER PUPIL IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE FOR EACH
CURRENT EXPENSE ITEM FOR VARIOUS YEARS IN FULL-TIME
DAY SCHOOLS IN CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS

1 From Office of Education circulars or pamphlets entitled, "Per Capita Costs in City Schools" for the
various years indicated.

COST PER PUPIL IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE FOR EACH CURRENT EXPENSE ITEM FOR VARIOUS YEARS IN FULL-TIME DAY SCHOOLS IN CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS-Continued

1 From Office of Education circulars or pamphlets entitled "Per Capita Cost, in City Schools" for the various years indicated.

PERCENT OF CHANGE SINCE 1936 IN THE AVERAGE COST PER

PUPIL

The percent of change since 1936 in the average cost per pupil for the various items of current expense is shown by groups in the following table. It will be seen that the cost has decreased in each item except general control in the cities of group II, resulting in a 3.4 percent decrease in the total group cost. There was a decrease in all but two items-"Maintenance" and "Auxiliary agencies"-in the cities of group III, resulting in a total cost reduction of 2.1 percent for the group. In the cities of group IV, all items excepting "Cost of instruction" show a decrease of from 5.3 to 16.4 percent. The increase of 5.7 percent, however, in the expenditure for instruction is sufficient to counterbalance the decrease in the cost of the other items of this

group and results in a 1.4 percent increase for the group as a whole. With the exception of the cost of auxiliary agencies, all items of current expense in the cities of group I show an increase over like costs in 1936. These increased costs in the cities of the highest population group are sufficient to overbalance the decreased expenditures in the other groups, and result in an increase of 2.8 percent in the total cost for all groups combined.

PERCENT OF CHANGE SINCE 1936 IN THE AVERAGE COST PER PUPIL FOR THE VARIOUS ITEMS OF CURRENT EXPENSE IN CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS

DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCHOOL DOLLAR

The average city in each group of 10,000 population and more expended more than three-fourths of its school dollar for instructional purposes salaries, textbooks, and educational supplies. The proportion expended for these purposes decreased as the size of the groups decrease in population, being 77.7 percent for cities in group I; 77.5 percent for cities in group II; and 75.3 percent for cities in group III. The cities in group IV expended a little less than threefourths of their school dollar for instructional purposes. The next largest current-expense item was for operation of school plant. The percent for this purpose was least in the cities of 100,000 population and more, and increased as the group size decreased in population, the percent in group I being 9; in group II, 10.9; in group III and in group IV, 17.7 each.

The distribution of the school dollar among the various items of expense in the average city of each group, and the range in the percent devoted to each item, are shown in the following tables:

PERCENT OF THE CURRENT EXPENSE DOLLAR USED FOR VARIOUS SCHOOL FUNCTIONS IN THE AVERAGE CITY OF EACH GROUP, 1937

RANGE IN PERCENTS OF AMOUNT DEVOTED TO EACH CURRENT EXPENSE ITEM IN 308 CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS, 1937

decrease in pupil costs in These cities are arranged

Table 2 shows the percent of increase or 307 city school systems from 1936 to 1937. alphabetically by States in each group. Those cities showing a decrease in costs are marked with a minus sign.

Table 3 is a summary of the data given in table 2. It reveals that there was an increase in school costs since 1936 in 239, or a little more than three-fourths of the cities reporting. This increase, however, was less than 10 percent in more than three-fourths of the 239 cities. With the exception of 5 cities, all cities where school costs were less in 1937 than in 1936 show a decrease of less than 10 percent, while three-fourths of these cities show a decrease of less than 5 percent.

COST PER PUPIL FOR 100 DAYS, 1930 TO 1937

In order to eliminate the effect of varying lengths of the school term on per capita costs, the current costs per pupil in 43 cities of 100,000 population and more have been reduced to a standard term of 100 days for the various years presented in table 4. These cities are arranged alphabetically by State for ready reference. At the foot of the table

are given the minimum, median, maximum, and average costs together with the first and the third quartiles in each year.