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Utah

The state of Utah has 40 school districts; statewide funding, achievement and demographic data can be found in the tabs below. Or use the school district links at the bottom of this page to learn more about a specific Utah community.

Funding

Funding Breakdown Chart

WARNING: Data below comes from federal and state policy offices, as opposed to budget division staff. Funding levels will not match exact dollar figures that states and school districts receive. While this data can be used to help analyze policy and trends, it should not be used for local budgeting purposes.
     
Statewide Per-Pupil Expenditure $5,008
Per-Pupil Expenditure Rank of 50 states and the District of Columbia (1=Highest Spending) 51
School Finance Inequity Among Districts in Per-Pupil Dollars $696
School Finance Inequity Among Districts in Percentage Terms 13%
School Finance Equity Rank of 50 states and the District of Columbia (1=Most Equitable) 36
Total Federal Direct Aid (Title I & IDEA) to Utah FY 2006 $152,413,658
Total Federal Direct Aid Per Pupil $307
NCLB Title I Estimated FY 2009 Grant (Bush Budget) $61,129,169
NCLB Title I Estimated FY 2008 Grant (At Conference Level) $63,030,000
NCLB Title I Actual FY 2006 Grant $54,086,993
NCLB Title I Actual FY 2004 Grant $50,780,122
IDEA Part B Estimated FY 2009 Grant (Bush Budget) $104,844,791
IDEA Part B Estimated FY 2008 Grant (At Conference Level) $101,581,927
IDEA Part B Actual FY 2006 Grant $98,326,665
IDEA Part B Actual FY 2004 Grant $93,688,425
Impact Aid Basic Support Payments FY 2007 $8,079,504
Total School Food Funds FY 2007 $85,161,941
Total School Food Funds FY 2006 $78,904,703
Total School Food Funds FY 2004 $73,755,698

Demographics

Racial/Ethnic Breakdown
Asian: 3.1%
Black: 1.3%
Native American: 1.5%
White: 81.7%
Hispanic: 12.5%
Other: -0.0%
Total Number of Students 496,507
Student Poverty Rate 10.5%
Student Poverty Rate Rank of 50 States and the District of Columbia (1=Lowest Poverty Rate) 7
Free and Reduced Priced Lunch Enrollment Rate 33%
White Students 405,416
Black Students 6,365
Native American Students 7,601
Asian Students 15,154
Hispanic Students 61,981

Achievement

Achievement Overview

NCLB scores are based on state-defined standards, while NAEP standards are set by the federal government and are consistent nationwide.

Percentage figures presented reflect the proportion of students learning at grade level, according to state NCLB and national NAEP standards, respectively.

The percentage of students deemed proficient as per NCLB scores tends to be higher than the percentage deemed proficient as per NAEP scores, because state-defined standards of proficiency tend to be lower.

State Defined
Proficiency
(NCLB, 2004-05)
Nationally Defined
Proficiency
(NAEP, 2005)
National Rank
Based on 2005
NAEP Results
Grade 4 Students Proficient in Reading 78% 34% 15
Grade 4 Students Proficient in Math 75% 37% 25
Grade 8 Students Proficient in Reading 77% 29% 29
Grade 8 Students Proficient in Math 80% 30% 23

Compare to Other States

Use the form below to select data on which to make a comparison, and determine just how similar other states must be to yours for comparison purposes (e.g. within X percent of Utah's funding, number of students, etc.)

Number of Students:
Percentage of Students in Poverty:
Percentage of Black and Hispanic Students:
Statewide Expenditure Per Pupil:
Average School Finance Inequity Among Districts:
NCLB Title I Actual FY 2007 Grant Per Pupil:
IDEA Part B Actual FY 2007 Grant Per Pupil:
Total FY 2007 Federal Direct Aid Per Pupil:
Grade 4 Reading Proficiency:
Grade 4 Math Proficiency:

Notes & Sources

STATE-LEVEL DATA


FUNDING

  1. Statewide Per-Pupil Expenditure
    U.S. Census Bureau, School Year 2003-2004
    http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/04f33pub.pdf
  2. School Finance Inequity
    Education Finance Incentive Grant Program Definition of Equity, No Child Left Behind, Title I, Part A, Subpart 2, Sec. 1125A
    Note: Hawaii and the District of Columbia only have one school district, so their weighted coefficient is 0 as per Sec. 1125A of Title I of NCLB. Alaska, Kansas, and New Mexico qualify as equalized under the Impact Aid program standard (Title VIII, Sec8009(c)(1)), so they have been assigned a weighted coefficient of 10 as per Sec. 1125A.
  3. NCLB Title I
    Fiscal Years 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, Estimated 2009 (Bush Budget)
    U.S. Department of Education
    http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/08stbyprogram.xls
  4. IDEA Part B
    Fiscal Years 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, Estimated 2009 (Bush Budget)
    U.S. Department of Education
    http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/08stbyprogram.xls
  5. Impact Aid Basic Support Payments
    National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, Fiscal Year 2007
  6. School Food Programs
    Child Nutrition Program Data, Food and Nutrition Service – USDA, Fiscal Years 2004, 2006, 2007
    http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/cnpmain.htm

DEMOGRAPHICS

  1. Student Poverty Rate
    Poverty Rate for School-Age Children, Ages 5-17
    U.S. Census Bureau Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates, 2004
    http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/saipe/national.cgi?year=2004&ascii=#SA51
  2. Free and Reduced Price Lunch Enrollment Rate
    National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, School Year 2005-2006
    http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
  3. Total Number of Students, Disaggregated by Race
    National Center
    for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, School Year 2005-2006
    http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/

ACHIEVEMENT

  1. State Defined Proficiency Level
    Utah Performance Assessment System for Students Criterion Referenced Tests, State Results, 2005
    http://www.schools.utah.gov/assessment/documents/Results_CRT_State_Grade.pdf
  2. Nationally Defined Proficiency Level
    National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005
    http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

DISTRICT-LEVEL DATA


FUNDING

  1. District Per-Pupil Expenditure
    National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, School Year 2004-2005
    http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
  2. District Operating Budget
    U.S. Census Bureau, Public Elementary-Secondary Education Finance Data, 2006
    http://www.census.gov/govs/www/school06.html
  3. NCLB Title I
    Fiscal Years 2004, 2006, 2008
    Thompson Publishing, Title I Online
    http://www.thompson.com/public/nclb/fundinginformation/fundinginformation.html
    Estimated Fiscal Year 2009 (Bush Budget)
    Congressional Research Service, supplied by the Office of Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
  4. IDEA Part B
    Fiscal Years 2004, 2006
    Utah's State Special Education Department
    Fiscal Year 2008 at Conference Level, Estimated Fiscal Year 2009 (Bush Budget)
    These grants have been estimated based on the FY 2008 conference appropriation or Bush’s budget request for IDEA Part B and each district’s FY 2006 grant.
  5. Impact Aid Basic Support Payments
    National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, Fiscal Year 2007

DEMOGRAPHICS

  1. Student Poverty Rate
    U.S. Census Bureau Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates, 2004
    http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/district.html
  2. Free and Reduced Price Lunch Enrollment Rate
    National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, School Year 2005-2006
    http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
  3. Total Number of Students, Disaggregated by Race
    National Center
    for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, School Year 2005-2006
    http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/

ACHIEVEMENT

  1. District NCLB
    Utah Performance Assessment System for Students Criterion Referenced Tests, Grade 4, 2005
    Data provided by Utah Department of Education

DEFINITIONS

Per-Pupil Expenditure. Statewide per-pupil expenditure equals the total amount of revenue paid out by school systems in the state divided by total school enrollment. It includes funds from federal, state, and local sources and funds spent on day to day operating expenses, such as teacher salaries. It does not include capital expenses, such as school construction.

School Finance Inequity. School finance equity figures presented reflect a definition contained in Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act. That definition examines the differences in per-pupil spending among school districts across a given state. The per-pupil expenditure for every school district is compared to the average per-pupil expenditure for the state and weighted according to size and poverty level.

Indirect aid is support provided for school districts through the federal tax code. For example, a community can use local property taxes to finance local schools, and it costs taxpayers less because local property taxes are deductible on federal income tax returns.

Direct Aid. Direct aid is education funding that comes from the federal government and is distributed directly to states and then given to individual school districts. The figures presented here include only the two largest direct aid funding streams -- the Title I program for disadvantaged students and the IDEA special education program for children with disabilities.

Title I. Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act authorizes direct aid from the federal government to states and school districts to support the additional education needs of children from low-income families.

IDEA. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes direct aid from the federal government to states and school districts to support the additional education needs of children with disabilities.

Impact Aid Basic Support Payments. Title VIII of the No Child Left Behind Act authorizes direct aid from the federal government to school districts that educate large numbers of "federally connected" children or have been impacted by the lost property tax revenue on federal lands (i.e. military bases or Native American reservations).

Student Poverty Rate. The student poverty rate reflects the number of children in a state ages 5 to 17 living beneath the Census Bureau's poverty line. In 2004, the poverty income threshold for a family of four was $19,157.

Free and Reduced Priced Lunch Enrollment Rate. The student poverty rate based on free and reduced price lunch eligibility reflects the number of students in the state who are certified to receive free or reduced price lunches based on their family incomes or participation in Food Stamp or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

Total School Food Funds. The National School Lunch Act authorizes the distribution of federal funds to states and school districts to provide nutritious lunches, breakfasts and snacks to low income students at free or reduced prices.

Achievement. State-defined proficiency standards of what students should know and be able to do in each grade are developed separately by each state. States use these standards to test and assess whether students are performing adequately, as required under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Nationally-defined proficiency standards of what students should know and be able to do are developed by the National Assessment Governing Board. The Board administers a national test to a representative sample of students-the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-that measures whether students are performing at grade level.

Percentage figures presented reflect the proportion of students learning at grade level according to state NCLB and national NAEP standards, respectively.

spreadsheet icon All the available data for Utah is available for download as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.


Utah School Districts (40)

The full list of Utah school districts is below. Click on any name for funding, achievement and demographic data for that district, or use this form to narrow down the list.

Per-Pupil Expenditure. Statewide per-pupil expenditure equals the total amount of revenue paid out by school systems in the state divided by total school enrollment. It includes funds from federal, state, and local sources and funds spent on day to day operating expenses, such as teacher salaries. It does not include capital expenses, such as school construction.

School Finance Inequity. School finance equity figures presented reflect a definition contained in Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act. That definition examines the differences in per-pupil spending among school districts across a given state. The per-pupil expenditure for every school district is compared to the average per-pupil expenditure for the state and weighted according to size and poverty level.

Indirect Aid. Indirect aid is support provided for school districts through the federal tax code. For example, a community can use local property taxes to finance local schools, and it costs taxpayers less because local property taxes are deductible on federal income tax returns.

Direct Aid. Direct aid is education funding that comes from the federal government and is distributed directly to states and then given to individual school districts. The figures presented here include only the two largest direct aid funding streams -- the Title I program for disadvantaged students and the IDEA special education program for children with disabilities.

Title I. Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act authorizes direct aid from the federal government to states and school districts to support the additional education needs of children from low-income families.

IDEA. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes direct aid from the federal government to states and school districts to support the additional education needs of children with disabilities.

Impact Aid Basic Support Payments. Title VIII of the No Child Left Behind Act authorizes direct aid from the federal government to school districts that educate large numbers of "federally connected" children or have been impacted by the lost property tax revenue on federal lands (i.e. military bases or Native American reservations).

Student Poverty Rate. The student poverty rate reflects the number of children in a state ages 5 to 17 living beneath the Census Bureau's poverty line. In 2004, the poverty income threshold for a family of four was $19,157.

Free and Reduced Priced Lunch Enrollment Rate. The student poverty rate based on free and reduced price lunch eligibility reflects the number of students in the state who are certified to receive free or reduced price lunches based on their family incomes or participation in Food Stamp or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

Total School Food Funds. The National School Lunch Act authorizes the distribution of federal funds to states and school districts to provide nutritious lunches, breakfasts and snacks to low income students at free or reduced prices.

Achievement. State-defined proficiency standards of what students should know and be able to do in each grade are developed separately by each state. States use these standards to test and assess whether students are performing adequately, as required under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Nationally-defined proficiency standards of what students should know and be able to do are developed by the National Assessment Governing Board. The Board administers a national test to a representative sample of students-the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-that measures whether students are performing at grade level.

Percentage figures presented reflect the proportion of students learning at grade level according to state NCLB and national NAEP standards, respectively.


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