Here’s The Best School District In Georgia: Report

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — A new report has ranked the best school district in Georgia, and the answer may surprise you. The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and commentary, sifted through various school data to determine the best school district in every state.

In Georgia, the City Schools of Decatur district in DeKalb County topped the list. The district has 4,345 students and spends $12,593 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 85.5 percent and 72.3 percent of adults have a bachelor’s degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• Child poverty
• Spending per student
• Graduation rate
• Teachers per student
• Percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree
• Preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the U.S. spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

“That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country,” the authors wrote. “The majority of a school’s budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage.”

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards.

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

But in DeKalb County, the median household income from 2012-2016 was $52,623, slightly lower than the national average of $55,322. Furthermore, the poverty rate in the county was 17.5 percent, much higher than the national average of 12.7 percent.

The nationwide rankings report published on Monday follows a January report from the same site that found Georgia overall ranked 32nd in the country for best schools.

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Here’s a breakdown of Georgia schools, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 79.4 percent (7th lowest)
• Public school spending: $9,742 per pupil (12th lowest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 28.4 percent (math) 30.2 percent (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 30.5 percent (23rd highest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median: 48.6 percent (19th lowest)

Just 79.4 percent of Georgia’s high school students graduate with a diploma — far less than the national average of 84.1 percent. Additionally, both fourth and eighth graders in the state are less likely to be proficient in math and reading than in most states, the report said.

In Georgia, just 53.7 percent of kids live in families with incomes at least double the poverty level income, the report said. That’s less than the 58.7 percent of children nationwide.

But the state only spends $9,742 per pupil a year on education — about $2,800 less than the national average.

“The relatively large share of low-income families and low school funding may partially explain some poor outcomes in Georgia’s public school system,” the authors wrote.

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