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: “Coming from Washington, it was certainly eye-opening to see the funding in Idaho,” said Matthew Handelman, Coeur d’Alene School District assistant superintendent. “ We combat perception (of underfunding education) by working hard and doing our best – just like everyone else out there we’re trying to be leaner and meaner.” Idaho and Washington both fall below the national average of $10,560 per student. And that is down 0.4 percent from the year before – the first decrease in per-student spending since the bureau began collecting data in 1977. “I don’t know whether a student or a parent knows we don’t have enough funding,” Handelman said. 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.