$19,618 per pupil in attendance: Kentucky school districts’ spending in 2024–25, district by district

Spending per pupil in attendance in 166 Kentucky school districts, 2024–25: median $19,618, range $14,959 to $31,276. Every figure from KDE audited AFR public records, with what the figure includes and leaves out.

Half of the 166 Kentucky school districts that run both elementary and high school grades recorded spending of more than $19,618 per pupil in attendance for 2024–25, and half recorded less. That middle figure, the median, comes from the audited Annual Financial Report published by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). It is the most recent year DistrictFacts publishes for the state.

The lowest figure among those districts is $14,959 per pupil in attendance, at Beechwood Independent (1,536 students enrolled, 2024–25). The highest is $31,276, at Owsley County (617 students enrolled, 2024–25), about 2.1 times the lowest. The middle half of districts fall between $18,233 and $21,663.

Spending per pupil, 2024–25: the 5 lowest and the 5 highest of 166 Kentucky districts

Beechwood Independent
$14,959
Meade County
$15,505
Harrison County
$15,722
Grayson County
$15,987
Caldwell County
$16,298
Fairview Independent
$26,449
Jenkins Independent
$27,026
Bellevue Independent
$28,151
Newport Independent
$29,786
Owsley County
$31,276

10 of 166 districts shown: the 5 lowest and the 5 highest. Bars start at zero and the line marks the median of all 166, $19,618. Each bar links to the district’s page.

Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), audited Annual Financial Report, 2024–25

The largest district

Jefferson County is the largest Kentucky system reporting this figure, with 93,301 students enrolled (2024–25). Its figure is $25,350 per pupil in attendance for 2024–25, 29% above the $19,618 median of the 166 districts compared here. The DistrictFacts homepage compares the same figure with a wider group: all 171 Kentucky systems reporting it for the year, including the kinds of district left out here. That median is $19,593, and Jefferson County is 29% above it.

What “spending per pupil” means in Kentucky

In Kentucky the figure comes from KDE’s audited Annual Financial Report: spending on instruction, support services, non-instructional services, facilities and debt service (repayment of borrowed money), across the general, special revenue (grants for set purposes), capital outlay, building, debt service and food service funds, divided by the average number of students in attendance each day. The division is by attendance, not by enrollment, so it is higher than the same spending divided by students enrolled. Transfers between funds are left out. Facilities and debt service are included.

Each state defines this figure differently: what spending is counted, and which count of students it is divided by. The Kentucky figure should not be set beside another state’s, and DistrictFacts does not rank states on it.

Which districts are counted

DistrictFacts publishes pages for 171 Kentucky districts and other local education agencies. 171 of them report this figure for 2024–25. The median and the range above cover 166: regular school districts whose schools span both elementary and high school grades. The other 5 are left out so that different kinds of district are not mixed in one median:

What this does not tell you

A per-pupil figure does not show whether money was spent well, and it is not a measure of school quality. Districts differ in the students they serve, the services they must provide and their size. In a district with few students, a small change in spending or in the pupil count moves the figure a long way. This is one year of data and it says nothing about the trend. A useful question to ask a district is what is included in its figure and how it has changed over time; each district page linked here shows the detail and the source file.

This report was generated from public records by the DistrictFacts Data Desk. Every figure in it is read from the audited Annual Financial Report of the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), as published on the district pages; none was typed by hand. The method is described on the DistrictFacts methodology page, and a correction can be requested from this story.

Sources

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