Saved analyses
States ranked by FY2024 per-pupil current spending
Question: Where does Washington rank among the 50 states in per-pupil current spending, and how does it compare with the national average?
Result: Washington ranks 17th of 50 states at $18,564 per pupil, 5.4% above the national figure of $17,619 (18th if DC is counted).
Operation: Sort 50 states descending by per-pupil current spending; flag Washington.
Scope: 50 states, FY2024 (DC excluded from ranking)
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- Nominal dollars, not adjusted for regional cost differences; Washington is a high-cost state.
- Current spending excludes capital outlay and debt service.
- Other rankings using different measures (for example NEA expenditures or state-and-local revenue) place Washington 14th.
Washington Kids Count education rank by Data Book year
Question: How has Washington's Kids Count education rank changed?
Result: Washington fell from 20th (2015 Data Book) to 26th (2024), 27th (2025) and 31st (2026).
Operation: List verified ranks by Data Book year.
Scope: Washington, Data Books 2015, 2024, 2025, 2026
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- 2016-2023 values not verified and omitted.
- The education domain includes preschool enrollment and on-time graduation as well as test proficiency.
- Values come from news reports of the Data Book, not directly from the Kids Count Data Center.
NAEP grade 8 math: Washington vs. nation
Question: How have Washington's grade 8 math scores moved relative to the nation?
Result: Washington's grade 8 math average peaked at 290 in 2013 and fell to 274 in 2024, below its 2003 score of 281; it remains 2 points above the national public average of 272.
Operation: List average scale scores by year and series.
Scope: Grade 8 public school students; years printed in NCES state snapshots
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- Scores carry sampling error; small gaps between Washington and the nation may not be statistically significant.
- 2005-2011 values and the 2013 national value are omitted because they were not printed in the reports retrieved.
- National declines after 2019 reflect the pandemic, so the drop is not specific to Washington.
Inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending, Washington vs. U.S.
Question: How much did per-pupil school spending grow after adjusting for inflation, and how did Washington compare with the nation?
Result: After inflation, Washington's per-pupil spending rose 30% from 2010-11 ($13,039) to 2018-19 ($16,970), versus 8% nationally; Washington went from 10% below the U.S. average to 9% above it.
Operation: List constant 2022-23 dollar per-pupil current expenditures by school year (year shown is the spring year, e.g. 2011 = 2010-11); compute growth 2010-11 to 2018-19.
Scope: Washington and United States, school years 2010-11 to 2020-21
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- CPI adjustment does not capture school-specific cost growth such as health insurance or salaries, or regional cost differences.
- NCES current expenditures differ in definition from the Census FY2024 figures elsewhere in this dataset.
Washington public school enrollment, fall 2011 to fall 2022
Question: How did the number of students change while spending grew?
Result: Enrollment grew 9.2% from fall 2011 (1,045,453) to a peak in fall 2019 (1,142,073), then fell 4.5% to 1,090,227 in fall 2022; NCES projects further decline to about 1.01 million by 2031.
Operation: List fall enrollment by year; compute change 2011 to 2019 and 2019 to 2022.
Scope: Washington public elementary and secondary schools
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- Fall counts; enrollment during the year differs.
- Projections are not included in the table.
per_pupil_fy2024.csv
text/csv · 1.6 KB (1,645 bytes)