Historical public education information in Pennsylvania, 2011-2013

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

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Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Pennsylvania's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Pennsylvania's public education page.

The Pennsylvania public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Pennsylvania had 1,771,395 students enrolled in a total of 3,181 schools in 784 school districts. There were 124,646 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 335 students, compared to the 2012 national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Pennsylvania spent $13,467 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 11th highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 84 percent in 2012.

State agencies

See also: Pennsylvania Department of Education

The mission statement of the Pennsylvania Department of Education reads:

“

The mission of the department is to academically prepare children and adults to succeed as productive citizens. The department seeks to ensure that the technical support, resources and opportunities are in place for all students, whether children or adults, to receive a high quality education.

”

The Secretary of Education is the chief administrative official of the state Department of Education. The Secretary of Education is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate.

The Pennsylvania State Board of Education is the state's education policymaking body. The board is composed of 21 members, making it the nation's largest such board. Of the board's 21 members, 17 are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. The remaining four members are members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly (the majority and minority chairs of the House and Senate education committees). The Secretary of Education serves as a non-voting member of the board.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Pennsylvania compared to three neighboring states in the 2011-2012 school year with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Pennsylvania	3,181	784	1,771,395	124,646	1:14.2	1:334.6	$13,467
Maryland	1,451	25	854,086	57,589	1:14.8	1:238.8	$13,871
New York	4,752	923	2,704,718	209,527	1:12.9	1:293.2	$19,076
Ohio	3,714	1,079	1,740,030	107,972	1:16.1	1:328.6	$11,223
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12" U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Pennsylvania as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Pennsylvania's K-12 public school system, 2011-2012
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	2,832	0.16%	1.10%
Asian	57,681	3.26%	4.68%
African American	271,598	15.33%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	997	0.06%	0.42%
Hispanic	153,519	8.67%	24.37%
White	1,251,083	70.63%	51.21%
Two or more	33,685	1.90%	2.54%
Source: United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey, 2011-2012," accessed May 26, 2015 **Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

During the 2011-2012 school year, a plurality of students in Pennsylvania attended suburban schools. Approximately 65 percent of the state's students attended city or suburban schools, compared to the approximately 35 percent who attended rural or town schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Pennsylvania	19.2%	45.7%	12.1%	23%
Maryland	16.9%	59.9%	5.3%	18%
New York	44.1%	35.3%	7.3%	13.2%
Ohio	19.7%	39.6%	13.5%	27.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Maryland, New York, and Ohio), Pennsylvania had the highest share of eighth grade students who scored at or above proficient in math during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Pennsylvania	44%	42%	40%	42%
Maryland	47%	37%	45%	42%
New York	40%	32%	37%	35%
Ohio	48%	40%	37%	39%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state

See also: ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Pennsylvania and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Pennsylvania	84%	Second	22.4	18%	1,480	71%
Maryland	84%	Second	22.1	21%	1,483	73%
New York	77%	Fourth	23.3	29%	1,463	76%
Ohio	81%	Third	21.8	71%	1,635	17%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both SY 2010–11 and SY 2011–12. The event dropout rate for Pennsylvania was lower than the national average at 2.2 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.8 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Pennsylvania

As of June 2015, school choice options in Pennsylvania included: charter schools, school choice tax incentive programs, an intra-district open enrollment policy and online learning programs. In addition, about 13.47 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-2012 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-2013.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Pennsylvania state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Pennsylvania spent approximately 18.4 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down one percentage point, or 5.2 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 19.4 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Pennsylvania	18.4%	$13,467	12.74%	34.2%	53.06%
Maryland	19.5%	$13,871	9.35%	40.99%	49.67%
New York	19.8%	$19,076	8.9%	40.27%	50.82%
Ohio	20.6%	$11,223	11.65%	44.31%	44.04%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Pennsylvania totaled approximately $27.2 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including revenue sources, for Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Pennsylvania	$3,469,273	$9,309,365	$14,444,802	$27,223,440
Maryland	$1,255,964	$5,508,339	$6,674,775	$13,439,078
New York	$5,127,425	$23,189,453	$29,266,236	$57,583,114
Ohio	$2,762,051	$10,510,451	$10,446,108	$23,718,610
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=650x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Federal revenue,State revenue,Local revenue Pennsylvania,12.74,34.20,53.06 Maryland,9.35,40.99,49.67 New York,8.90,40.27,50.82 Ohio,11.65,44.31,44.04 U.S. total,12.34,44.09,43.56 </pbars>

Public school revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Pennsylvania totaled approximately $27.3 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including expenditure types, for Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Pennsylvania	$23,541,287	$2,269,812	$1,477,788	$27,288,887
Maryland	$11,818,032	$989,839	$185,991	$12,993,862
New York	$51,203,701	$4,655,961	$2,680,715	$58,540,377
Ohio	$19,673,291	$2,516,739	$1,068,376	$23,258,406
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=500x200 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Current expenditures,Capital outlay,Other Pennsylvania,86.27,8.32,5.42 Maryland,90.95,7.62,1.43 New York,87.47,7.95,4.58 Ohio,84.59,10.82,4.59 U.S. total,86.31,8.78,4.90 </pbars>

Public school expenditures, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Pennsylvania, the average salary decreased by 3.8 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Pennsylvania	$66,035	$63,146	$62,965	$63,521	-3.8%
Maryland	$60,196	$68,285	$64,693	$65,265	8.4%
New York	$69,723	$76,464	$74,620	$75,279	8%
Ohio	$56,626	$59,732	$57,659	$58,092	2.6%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Pennsylvania ranked fourth overall, or "strongest," which was in the first of five tiers.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania
• Education Policy in the U.S.