The Per-Pupil Cost of Regular and Vocational Education Programs.

The purpose of a study of the cost of providing nonteaching educational services was to determine the per-pupil cost of commonly offered high-cost programs in regular and vocational education. Regular and vocational education program cost data were collected from nine Texas school districts representing a variety of geographic areas and district characteristics. Per-pupil costs of nonteaching educational services were calculated by summing base cost, outfitting cost, and consumable goods cost. The results were rank-ordered to determine high-cost programs in regular and vocational education. The study identified three readily accessible data sources, refined a data collection methodology, and developed an algorithm for analyzing the resulting program cost data. The most salient finding was that high-cost programs were typically taught in specialized instructional areas and/or required specialized equipment. Data suggested that, as instructional areas become more specialized, the base cost and outfitting cost increases; with increasing specialization, consumable costs also increase. (Appendixes include the data collection instrument and data grid.) (Author/YLB)