Milford reached a milestone with this latest report. Our cost per student for the entire District was below the state average for the first time in at least 11 years!!!
Shown below is a graphic that shows the data from the state site summarized for Milford. The first block shows the total spending per student for the past 11 years. We have been showing continuous improvement in our cost per student spending during the past 11 years. Our per student spending was 110% of the state average 11 years ago. The percentage has steadily dropped over the years, and we are now at only 98% of the state average.
This came about because our percentage growth in spending has been less than the state percentage growth over this time period. Our total spending per student has gone up 71% over the 11 years (from $6394 to $10,933), while the state average 's cost per student has gone up 93% (from $5780 to $11,135).
There are a lot of factors that go into spending for a school district that feed into the overall results. In my opinion, we have provided the right focus on our spending to provide good outcomes. The District is in much better shape than it was 11 years ago. We have gotten where we are by being consistent in our spending practices. We have been following the practice of trying to make continuous improvement each year, but in a modest way. We have avoided years of no progress due to severe cutbacks, and we have also not tried to do too much in any given year.
We have followed the teachings of the Tortoise and the Hare fable, where slow but steady wins the race. We have become a good Tortoise, where we move along at a steady pace each year, taking consistent steps towards an improved District. The only difference is that we do not have a finish line - we are just trying to do better all the time.
The spending area that contributed the most to our overall improvement was the elementary schools calculations. Eleven years ago we were at 111% of the state average, and now we are now at 91%. This is likely the result of going from operating out of three aging schools (Garden Street, Bales, and Jacques), and transitioning to newer schools (Heron Pond and renovated Jacques). We get economies of scale by operating out of a relatively large Heron Pond school. Most elementary schools in the state are much smaller, and they cost more to operate per student. We get by with fewer support staff members than a typical District due to the larger school size. There was additional savings when the Fifth grade was added onto Heron Pond, where we added about 200 more students with minimal additional overhead cost.
