School Spending per Pupil in Western Mass, Town by Town

The school districts serving this region's towns reported total district spending from $15,610 to $32,033 per pupil in 2023-2024. Before reading that as a list of rich schools and poor ones, read the scope and enrollment columns: the top of the range is Farmington River, a district of about 254 students.

This figure divides total district expenditure by total pupil full-time equivalents, including pupils educated outside the district. Enrollment size, staffing, services, transport and tuition all affect the result. The spending figure alone does not establish why a district costs more.

What the Figure Is, and What It Is Not

This site publishes school spending and enrolment and stops there, deliberately. Spending is an input. It says what a district costs to run, not what a child learns in it, and the relationship between the two is argued about by people who study it full time. Nothing on this page is a quality rating, and the table sorts by whatever column you choose, not by any order of ours.

The structure behind the figures is worth more than the figures: 97 towns operate or belong to a district, and many share one. A regional district's spending appears beside every member town, so neighbouring rows repeating a figure is the map of regional education here, not a data error. 4 towns, Monroe, Tyringham, New Ashford, Mount Washington, operate no district at all and pay tuition to send their children elsewhere, which is why their rows carry no figure rather than a zero.

Every Town, Every District

What This Does Not Mean

Spending is not on your tax bill in proportion to this table: a town's school cost runs through its levy, state aid and, in regional districts, an assessment formula negotiated between member towns. Where the property tax actually goes follows that money, and which district serves which town maps the structure this table only names.