Dayton Public Schools Expenditures as % of Total

Continuing the investigation into expenditures, the ODE also provides total expenditures and % of total for the four expenditure categories.

% spent on instruction is maybe a good measure on how efficient the schools are, meaning less on overhead and more on instruction more on actual teaching.

In this area, Dayton ties with Columbus at 50% of expenditure spent on instruction.

Looking at how the various districts compare with overhead (building maintenance and admin), support services, and instruction, Dayton is up with Youngstown with the highest overhead.
Breaking this out by type of overhead, Dayton comes out highest with building maintenance, nearly 25% of all expenditures, and well above the median for urban districts (not including Youngstown, which is also an outlier).

Of the costs seen here building maintenance is the most out-of-line. What would it mean to reduce the building maintenance % to the urban district median?

The delta is considerable. The savings could buy around 400 more teachers (depending on fringe benefits and pensions) assuming a $66,000 average salary. This saving could re-staff Stivers as well as buy equipment and such for the school.

Not sure what all this means for the levy. The % spend on instruction is low compared to other districts, but the cost per pupil is high, and the cost per pupil for instruction is actually slightly above the median for urban districts.

The big issue seems to be building maintenance, which is driving higher costs, crowding out instruction and maybe support services.