VIRGINIA
Virginia published FY19 school-by-school spending data on their report card known as “School Quality Profiles.” In the “Finance” tab of each school’s report you can compare the school’s total per-pupil spending with district and state averages. Clicking on the “show data” button provides a detailed breakdown of the school’s expenses, including how much was spent directly at the school and how much district expenses contributed to the school’s total spending. Explore Virginia’s spending data below or jump over to the state report card HERE.
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THE REPORT CARD ABOUT PER SCHOOL SPENDING
OTHER QUESTIONS TO ASK & HOW TO FIND THE ANSWERS
To access the school spending with district and state averages go to your school’s report card then click on the “show data” button. It will expand and display a breakdown of spending by school and district level expenditures compared to state and district averages.
Virginia provides a downloadable data file containing the per-pupil expenditures for all schools in a district and the state. To find spending for your district, click on the “Download Data” tab. Then, select “school” for the reporting level, select the district you wish to compare (in Virginia they’re called Divisions), and select “All Schools” to view all schools in the district. Select “Finance” for the data type and “Per Pupil Spending” as your indicator. Then, download the data file to view spending for each school in the district.
The Virginia report card does not yet have an online option to directly compare spending with demographics.
I know which school(s) I want to compare.
View each comparison school’s report card. Spending data is located in the “Finance” tab and scroll down to view demographic data which is located in the “Enrollment” tab.
I do not know which schools I want to compare.
Virginia does not yet provide demographic data for every school in the state in a downloadable file. However, Virginia does provide a downloadable data file containing the per-pupil expenditures for all schools in a district and the state. To identify comparison schools, click on the “Download Data” tab. Then, select “School” for the reporting level and select the district(s) you wish to compare (in Virginia they’re called Divisions.) Select “All Divisions” and “All Schools” to gather data for all schools in the state. Select “Finance Data” for the data type and “Per Pupil Spending” as your indicator. Then, download the data file. Once you have identified your comparison schools, visit their report cards individually to gather demographic data, which are located in the “Enrollment” tab of the report card.
The Virginia report card does not have an online ability to directly compare spending with outcomes or demographics.
I know which school(s) I want to compare.
View each comparison school’s report card. Spending data are located in the “Finance” tab. Demographics data are found in the “Enrollment” tab and Outcomes data are found in the “Assessments” tab.
I do not know which schools I want to compare.
The “Download Data” tab of the report card provides the ability to download outcomes and per-pupil expenditure data for all schools in a district or the state. However, Virginia does not provide downloadable data files for demographics. To identify comparison schools, select “School” for the reporting level, select the district(s) you wish to compare (in Virginia they’re called Divisions) and select “All Schools” to view all the schools in the district(s) or the state. Then, select the “Data Type” and “Data Indicator” you wish to gather.
To gather outcomes data, select either “Assessments,” “Accreditation,” or “College and Career Readiness.” To gather per-pupil expenditures select “Finance” as the data type and “Per Pupil Spending” as the indicator. Download the data files to gather outcomes and spending data. Once you have identified your comparison schools, visit their report cards individually to gather demographic data, which are located in the “Enrollment” tab of the report card.
Virginia does not break down spending by service.
Virginia does not break down spending by service.
MORE ABOUT VIRGINIA
Virginia is seeking feedback on their report card. If you have questions or would like to submit feedback for review you can complete their online survey here.
The Culpupper Star Exponent published the story “VDOE annual report now provides per-pupil funding for each public school” by reporter Cathy Jett. The article looks into the school spending results and how it can be used to see how resources are allocated within a district. The Virginia Department of Education also put out a press release “New School Per-Pupil Spending Reports Provide Transparency and Promote Equity.” The press release discusses the value of the data and how to find it on the report card.