Title: Idaho still ranks low on education spending | The Spokesman-Review
Headings: Idaho still ranks low on education spending
Idaho still ranks low on education spending
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Content: The district approaches shortages with the idea: “ How are we going to do this? And we do it.” The census figures also include rankings for school spending per $1,000 in per-capita income for each state. By that measure, Idaho ranked 42nd, which is a drop from the previous year’s ranking of 38th and far below the state’s 17th ranking in 2001. The share of Idaho’s personal income that goes to schools dropped 23 percent from 2000 to 2013, according to the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. Washington long has scored low in the measure of spending per $1,000 in personal income because of the state’s relatively high personal income, which has been well above the national average for years. Washington was 46th on that measure in 2010-11, a slight improvement from 49th place the year before. Nationally, property taxes accounted for 65.6 percent of revenue from local sources for public school systems. Idaho state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna said, “How much we spend per student is an important factor, but it’s not the only factor.”