Education in the Swing Spots
When it comes to education, the majority of students attending kindergarten through 12th grade in the swing spots attend public schools, just like the majority of children across the nation. But, when it comes to how well these students perform in school or how many in these areas have a high school degree or bachelor’s degree or more, they are more unalike than they are alike.
Academic Proficiency: Fairfax County Public Schools has, by far, the most number of students of all the Districts in these swing spots and has the highest percentage of students achieving proficiency in both Reading (79%) and Math (89%). The District has the lowest percentage of students in poverty (6%) and is well funded (by comparison) by state and local governments. Youngstown School District, on the other hand, has the highest level of poverty (33%) and highest federal aid per pupil and while almost 60% of its students are proficient in Reading, only 44% are so in Math. Fewer students still in Las Cruces and Elko are proficient in either Reading or Math.
Elko, which has some of the lowest proficiency levels in these swing spots, has a very low percentage (9%) of students living in poverty. This is counterintuitive given the relationship between poverty and academic proficiency in these other areas. Is there something about Elko that this data does not show?
|
School District |
No of Students (2006) |
Percent in Poverty (2004) |
Proficient in Reading (2005) |
Proficient in Math (2005) |
State & Local Aid Per Pupil (2004) |
Federal Aid Per Pupil (2004) |
|
Fairfax County Public Schools |
163,753 |
6% |
79% |
89% |
$10,897 |
$296 |
|
Pueblo City 60 |
17,730 |
22% |
69% |
77% |
$7,812 |
$544 |
|
Youngstown School District |
8,819 |
33% |
57% |
44% |
$11,923 |
$1,208 |
|
Las Cruces Public Schools |
23,824 |
24% |
54% |
40% |
$7,198 |
$564 |
|
Elko County School District |
9,658 |
9% |
47% |
50% |
$8,207 |
$241 |
Educational Attainment: Nationally, 24.4% of people over the age of 25 have at least a Bachelor’s degree. Far more do in Fairfax County (54.78%), while less than 10% in Youngstown do. Las Cruces has slightly more (28.44%) than the national average, and Elko and Pueblo City have less at 17.12% and 16.75% respectively. In Youngstown, 41.62% of people have no more than a high school degree and only 2.84% have a post-graduate degree. Nearly 25% of people in Fairfax have a post-graduate degree.
On all dimensions related to education, this data suggests that while Fairfax represents one end of the spectrum, Youngstown represents the other. By comparison, Pueblo City and Elko most closely align with Youngstown and Las Cruces is closest to Fairfax. How do these varying levels of educational attainment impact the concerns of these voters? Which issues are important to them in today’s election? What does this data tell us?
|
Area |
% in public schools |
% with HS Degree |
% with at least Bachelor’s |
% with post-graduate degree |
|
Fairfax County, VA |
86.75% |
13.88% |
54.78% |
24.38% |
|
Las Cruces, NM |
94.81% |
22.22% |
28.44% |
12% |
|
Elko, NV |
96.73% |
27.76% |
17.12% |
5.20% |
|
Pueblo City, CO |
94.38% |
31.12% |
16.75% |
5.91% |
|
Youngstown, OH |
83.34% |
41.62% |
9.72% |
2.84% |
Data here is compiled from PolicyMap’s sources and include poverty, proficiency and aid computations from the New America Foundation for the most recent years available from the National Center for Educational Statistics. (This data will be publicly available in PolicyMap later this week.) Data regarding educational attainment is from the 2000 Census and is available on PolicyMap now.
Visit Wednesday for Part 4: Money and Taxes: Who is paying the most in state and local taxes? Who is making charitable contributions? How has this changed in last couple of years?
