The Arizona Auditor General has published their annual School District Spending Analysis. This report provides information for the public about spending patterns for public schools across the state. The state report can be accessed here.
The report also provides a breakdown for each school district in the state. Because different schools have different characteristics, the report breaks districts into twelve peer groups. Peer groups are based on size of enrollment and location of school. Pima is in peer Group 6 along with fifteen other districts. The leading indicator in the reports is the Instructional Spending Percentage. This is the portion of each dollar spent by the district which goes directly to instruction. As districts get larger their ISP generally gets larger because the fixed overhead costs become a smaller percentage of the budget. Peer group 6 has an average ISP of 51.7%. Pima Schools tied with Safford USD for the highest ISP in Arizona by spending $0.67 of every dollar on instruction.
This indicates the broad commitment Pima Schools has to ensuring that the funding we receive in spite of being one of the worst funded school districts in Arizona and the worst in peer group six. The average district in our peer group spends $10,700 on operations, while the average district in Arizona spends slightly less at $9,976. Pima Schools has a mere $8,778 to spend on operations.