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ATTACHMENT B
<br /> > INTRODUCTION (CONTINUED)
<br /> to offer the diversity of class offerings found in wealthier counties, most dollars per student averaged $3,200 in local spending per
<br /> meaning that some students have restricted access to advanced student as compared with the ten that spent the least,which
<br /> courses or electives that are important to a well-rounded averaged $755 per student.That represents a gap of$2,445
<br /> education.For example,rural districts in North Carolina have less between the top ten and bottom ten counties in local spending,
<br /> than half the number of high school AP course offerings of urban the largest gap since we began tracking this figure in 1987.Of
<br /> districts-5.8 versus 11.9'And while higher wealth districts are the state's 100 counties, 59 were below the state average of
<br /> able to tap deeper wallets as they cope with decreased state-level $1,652 local dollars per student.
<br /> investments,low-wealth districts must scramble to pull together
<br /> scarce local resources to pay for basic classroom supplies such as This discrepancy exists primarily because of the variation in
<br /> paper,pencils and textbooks. property wealth across the state. In 2016-17, every county in the
<br /> top ten spending districts had a per student real estate wealth
<br /> In 2016-17,counties spent approximately$3.1 billion to fund capacity above $1.5 million, and together had an average five
<br /> instructional expenses,accounting for 24 percent of the combined times greater than the bottom ten counties.The ten wealthiest
<br /> federal,state,and local total.Counties provided funding for 809 counties had an average real estate capacity of$1,885,677 per
<br /> principals and assistant principals(15 percent of the total),6,313 student, compared with the ten poorest counties,which had, on
<br /> teachers(6.7 percent of the total),1,937 teacher assistants(9 average, a real estate capacity of$386,873 per student.
<br /> percent of the total),and 3,143 professional instructional support
<br /> personnel(20.2 percent of the total).
<br /> Under North Carolina's school finance system, it
<br /> Given the increasing burden on all local districts to fund is the state's responsibility to pay for instructional
<br /> instructional expenses and the rising inequality in funding expenses while counties pay for capital expenses.
<br /> capacity across counties, spending disparities between low
<br /> wealth and higher-wealth counties have grown substantially in However, In 2016-2017, counties spend approximately
<br /> recent years. In 2016-17,the state's ten counties that spent the $3.1 billion to fund instructional expenses.
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<br /> TAXABLE REAL ESTATE WEALTH PER CHILD COUNTY-LEVEL SPENDING PER STUDENT
<br /> (2016-17) (2016-17)
<br /> 3,000 • •
<br /> 2,000,000
<br /> 2,500
<br /> 1,500,000
<br /> 2,000
<br /> 1,000,000 1,500
<br /> 500,000 1,000
<br /> 500
<br /> TEN TEN
<br /> WEALTHIEST POOREST
<br /> COUNTIES COUNTIES TEN TEN
<br /> HIGHEST-SPENDING LOWEST-SPENDING
<br /> COUNTIES COUNTIES
<br /> The ten wealthiest counties have more than five times the taxable
<br /> property wealth per child available than the ten poorest counties. Annual per-student county spending on programs and personnel was
<br /> As a result,even though the ten poorest counties tax themselves at $2,445 higher in the ten highest-spending counties than in the ten
<br /> nearly twice the rate of the wealthiest counties,the revenue they lowest-spending counties.This gap is wider than last year,when it was
<br /> generate through taxation remains substantially lower(See Table 4). $2,364 per student.
<br /> North Carolina Rural Center
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