The Board of Education increased spending by 10 percent last school year, shelling out $9 billion – with millions to spare.
Combining general education and special education, the board spent an average $8,330 per kid last year. That comes to $708 more per student than the year before, including $408 more on teachers, according to figures released yesterday.
“We’re doing a better job than ever in getting dollars to the classroom – where they belong,” Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew said in releasing the budget figures.
As to how the higher spending translated into classroom instruction, spokesmen said the board hired 4,400 additional teachers in 1997-98.
That raised the citywide total from 65,700 to 70,100 teachers. Many of the new teachers gave reading or arts instruction to small groups of kids during and after school.
High schools got the biggest boost, with $80 million going “to reduce class sizes as needed,” said Crew spokesman J.D. LaRock.
But officials could not say how many high school teachers were hired, or how many classes were cut in size.
“We couldn’t get a handle on that,” LaRock said.
The board spent a total of $71 per student on textbooks – down from $93 the previous year, when city schools had a one-time $70 million textbook grant from Mayor Giuliani.
But LaRock said $71 is higher than the paltry $41 per kid that schools spent on textbooks in 1995-96.
Spending on “instructional supplies and equipment” rose an average $51 per kid. Officials couldn’t say exactly how much of the increase was due to higher costs.
While per-pupil spending increased, the board spent less per student than the $8,494 it had budgeted.
The board finished the school year in June with a $195 million surplus, which was rolled over into this year, said Beverly Donohue, chief financial officer.