Comparing Economy of Scale in Large and Small Districts

Week 4: Part 2	District 1	District 2
Total Students	830	32,326
Number of Schools	3	45
Total Revenue Per Pupil	$10,529	$10,316
Total Operating Expenditure Per Pupil	$8,611	$8,908
Average Teacher Salary (Advanced degrees D1: 12.7% & D2: 24.6%)	$39,771	$50,307
Number of students per teacher	11.9	14.1
Total Teacher FTE	70	2,299

           

District 2 is considered a large district with over 32000 students.  District 1 has an enrollment of a little over 800.  Both of these districts do a good job of distributing the wealth to ensure equity for all of its students and both do a good job of generating revenue per pupil.  The large district, 2, is most likely in a metropolitan area or an area of great population.  Thus, this area will have budding business growth along with many opportunities for work and living.  A larger salary, many times, will accompany a large districts employment.  This salary is driven by cost of living being more expensive in a high population area and greater competition for good teachers.  Also, a large salary will sometimes go hand in hand will larger problems or duties.

Also, if you subtract Total Operational Expenditures per Pupil from Total Revenue per Pupil and then multiply this number by the number of students for each district, you find that District 1 has a surplus of $1,591,940 and District 2 has a surplus of $45,515,008.

          Economy of Scale is also a factor as we examine the data above. We notice the lower per unit cost as a result of increasing size. Infrastructure cost per pupil decreases as size of the district increases. (Jenkins, 2011) District 2 has lower revenue and operating expenditures per pupil based on Economy of Scale.

          Also, note the greater the competition the more advanced degrees among teachers. That factor also increases the average salary.