Per pupil, Henrico Schools spends well below state average
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Henrico County Public Schools spent less per pupil on education at each of its 67 schools during the 2018-19 school year than did an average school in Virginia, according to data released June 26 by the Virginia Department of Education.
Overall, the county’s average per-pupil expenditure of $9,382 was nearly $2,200 less than the state average ($11,560), according to the data. Sandston Elementary ($11,242) was tops on Henrico’s list, while Short Pump Elementary ($8,003) was last. All expenditures that are directly related to the provision of educational services to students are included in the data, according to the VDOE. Henrico has more than 51,500 public school students.
By comparison, Chesterfield County Public Schools spent an average of $9,456 per student, Hanover County Public Schools spent $9,794 and Richmond Public Schools spent $12,386.
The Henrico schools at which the school system spent the most money per student mostly are in Eastern Henrico. HCPS spent an average of more than $10,000 per pupil at 14 schools in all – 11 in Eastern Henrico, two in the West End and one in Northern Henrico.
With a few exceptions, the numbers largely reflect a higher financial investment in the schools that serve a higher percentage of at-risk students and schools working to earn full accreditation or keep it. Those schools may incur extra more costs on staffing than other schools, for example.
Conversely, schools without those challenges tend to require lower levels of funding per student. Eighteen of the 19 schools lowest on the county’s list are in the West End.
Specialty programs at various schools also can impact the average expenditure per student.
Five of the eight schools in Henrico that are accredited with conditions – meaning they haven’t yet obtained full accreditation by meeting state benchmarks – are among the 14 spending more than $10,000 per student, according to the data. They are Glen Lea and Highland Springs elementaries and Elko, Rolfe and Wilder middles.
Pemberton Elementary in the West End is second on the list, spending $11,032 per student; the school employs 10 part- or full-time exceptional education teachers as part of its Social Integrated Services program.
Related data from the VDOE classifies 19 of Henrico’s schools as serving high-poverty communities, 19 as serving low-poverty communities and 29 as serving communities with medium levels of poverty.
Of those classified as having high poverty levels, all but two (Ridge and Johnson elementaries) are in Eastern and Northern Henrico. All 19 of the low poverty schools are in the West End.
Additional VDOE data identifies what percentage of teachers at a given school are considered “inexperienced” – defined by the agency as being those who have less than one year of classroom experience.
During the 2018-19 school year, more than 10 percent of teachers at each of 11 county schools fell into that inexperienced category; three Eastern Henrico schools – Baker (15.6 percent), Donahoe (13.5 percent) and Ratcliffe (12.8 percent) elementaries – topped the list, followed by two in Northern Henrico – Laburnum (12.8 percent) and Lakeside (12.5 percent) elementaries.
At 16 other schools – 13 in the West End and 3 in Eastern Henrico – none of the teachers were deemed inexperienced. Countywide, 4.9 percent of teachers at a given school were considered to be inexperienced; the state average was 5.2 percent.
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To view data about individual schools, click here, select a school and click on the desired tab; per-pupil expenditures are shown under the “Finance” tab, while poverty levels and teacher inexperience data is shown under the “Teacher Quality” tab. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
