Per Capita Education Spending: How Does Tewksbury Compare?

As the school year begins, parents will hear about new investments in their local school system or, sometimes, cuts to teachers and budgets.

But how much does Tewksbury spend on education for each person in town—in financial terms, its per capita education spending?

The Pioneer Institute, a Massachusetts public policy research organization, recently released a spreadsheet tool to accompany its new handbook, "Guide to Sound Fiscal Management for Municipalities." The spreadsheet tool allows anyone to compare how much a city or town spends on various services, and how much the city or town spends per capita.

Patch used the tool to compare 25 cities and towns in the area on per capita education spending, with the Pioneer Institute using figures from fiscal years 2009 through 2011 obtained from the state Department of Revenue's Division of Local Services.

In 2011, Tewksbury was slightly above the State Median ($1251) per capita spending on education at $1274.

The town's per capita education spending has remained relatively steady over the past three years. In 2009, Tewksbury's per capita education spending was at $1228. That increased to $1276 in 2010 and then $1274 in 2011.

Note that per capita education spending is not the same as per pupil education spending. The former counts every person in town, while the latter only counts students in the school system.

Do these figures seem right to you? Are you comfortable with Tewksbury's per capita spending being less than neighboring towns like Wilmington, Chelmsford and North Reading? You can review the figures in the table below, and tell us what you think of the results in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

You can also download the Pioneer Institute's spreadsheet tool yourself and create your own comparisons. 

Per Capita Education Spending By City/Town

The data below were obtained from the Mass DOR Division of Local ServicesGeneral Fund Expenditure Worksheets. The spending figures presented below are based on the general funds spent by a municipality on education. General funds cover only a portion of a pupil's education cost, according to the Pioneer Institute, and that portion varies widely among the state's cities and towns. Cities and towns are listed in alphabetical order.