The cost of a building

This is the third in a series of posts analyzing school finance data. The first dealt with efficiency, defined as how much schools spent on the administration of their program on a per student basis. The second was about the results of that efficiency--schools that spend the most in classrooms on the education of students.  This post is related to that, as it analyzes the schools spend the most on their buildings. Rent is typically the second largest line item (after employees, if they are counted as a single category) in any school's budget.  Schools that spend more per student on buildings have less money for teacher salaries, curriculum, classroom technology and additional instructional staff like teachers' aides.

I take it as a given that while a building is necessary for educating students (no argument from virtual schools, please--that't not the point of this post) in a traditional setting, very little about that building has any impact on what students learn.  If the building is safe and functional, nothing else matters to the education of the students.  A school could theoretically spend its entire budget on the building, gold-plating the walls, and whatnot, and in fact the impact on students would be negative, as less money is available for things that actually do make a difference in the achievement of students.

Therefore, my postulate is that schools should seek a safe and functional building that costs as little as possible. In the list below, all charter schools are listed by those that spend the least amount per student to those that spend the most per student.  Since the cost of a facility is more than just the cost to be in it, the expenses here include what schools pay for rent plus the cost of maintenance and operation of their schools, including utilities.

Some interesting findings:

• At the top of the list Itineris, at only $2 per student, has the most efficient occupancy of all charter schools.  Their building was paid up front in one lump as part of the construction cost of a school they share with Salt Lake Community College and the Jordan Applied Technology Center.  The minimal cost here is reflective of other facility-related expenses.
• Utah Virtual Academy, as a large virtual school, spends very little on facilities, as you'd expect.  Open High School, on the other hand, spends significantly more, though still below the system-wide average.  Still, that's a lot for a school with no school and only a very small office in a cheap building downtown.
• As a group, high schools spend much less per student than elementary schools.  Several high schools (Itineris, AMES, NUAMES, Success, SL SPA) share facilities and their costs with other schools or colleges, while that arrangement is very uncommon in lower grades.
• High schools that operate out of portable units and old buildings (Moab, John Hancock) spend less.
• At the high end of the scale are schools (NPA, APA, Gateway) that purchased their building in 2011, leading to very high one-time expenses.  Next year's numbers will be more indicative of their ongoing facility costs.  
• In fact, this list is less apples-to-apples than previous lists on this topic.  Schools that opened in FY2011 (Weilenmann) don't have a full year's of occupancy included in their average, so they are understated.  Some schools (like Liberty) just got tremendous deals on their buildings because of other issues.  Some (Mountainville) expended their facility with large one-time expenses sending their average up.
• When you leave out the outliers at the top and bottom of the list, the average school spends $1536 on facilities.

School	Failities Spending	Enrollment
A5 Itineris Early College High	$                               2	245
5F Utah Virtual Academy	$                            41	2044
A1 NUAMES	$                          130	400
A9 Success Academy	$                          205	337
83 AMES	$                          230	479
7D Salt Lake School for Performing Arts	$                          243	185
7G Summit Academy High School	$                          367	172
1B Utah County Academy of Sciences	$                          408	363
93 John Hancock	$                          459	185
8D Open Classroom School	$                          462	399
92 Uintah River High School	$                          529	45
90 Tuacahn Hs For Performing Arts	$                          530	295
88 Success School	$                          697	41
3G Bear River Charter School	$                          731	177
95 Timpanogos Academy	$                          770	423
A7 Moab Community School	$                          841	70
4F Salt Lake Center for Science Education	$                          856	290
A2 The Ranches Academy Inc	$                          933	351
97 Salt Lake Arts Academy	$                          936	301
6C Liberty Academy	$                          975	687
94 Thomas Edison Charter School North	$                      1,024	1141
3C Entheos Academy	$                      1,160	514
9C Paradigm High School	$                      1,176	530
81 Walden School	$                      1,215	323
86 Pinnacle Canyon Academy	$                      1,221	503
6G Weilenmann School of Discovery	$                      1,227	550
9F Open High School of Utah	$                      1,236	227
1D Renaissance Academy	$                      1,271	677
1E  Guadalupe Schools	$                      1,275	121
1F Quest Academy	$                      1,290	679
4C Lakeview Academy	$                      1,303	711
9D Canyon Rim Academy	$                      1,309	530
2D Channing Hall	$                      1,319	668
7C Monticello Academy	$                      1,351	756
9E Providence Hall	$                      1,404	700
1C Odyssey School	$                      1,409	491
7B Ronald Reagan Academy	$                      1,429	675
5B North Star Academy	$                      1,510	508
5C Legacy Prepatory Academy	$                      1,514	876
3D Spectrum Academy	$                      1,515	333
87 City Academy	$                      1,523	185
6D Noah Webster Academy	$                      1,529	552
2B Lincoln Academy	$                      1,540	643
7F Excelsior Academy	$                      1,548	658
2G Vista at Entrada	$                      1,551	823
4B Wasatch Peak Academy	$                      1,554	375
2E Karl G. Maeser	$                      1,578	603
A4 Summit Academy	$                      1,590	1000
5D George Washington Academy	$                      1,611	721
A6 North Davis Preparatory Academy	$                      1,614	982
3F Venture Academy	$                      1,624	472
98 Fast Forward Charter High School	$                      1,634	213
8B American Leadership Academy	$                      1,659	1506
8G Good Foundation Academy	$                      1,671	305
4E Dual Immersion Academy	$                      1,684	451
5G Quail Run Primary School	$                      1,694	555
82 Freedom Academy	$                      1,715	673
68 Ogden Preparatory Academy	$                      1,759	1068
4D Syracuse Arts Academy	$                      1,963	1019
4G Maria Montessori Acacemy	$                      1,982	455
3B Beehive Sci. & Tech. Acad.	$                      1,989	233
2C Intech Early College High School	$                      2,014	141
1G Oquirrh Mountain Charter School	$                      2,099	716
8F Hawthorn	$                      2,183	786
A8 East Hollywood High	$                      2,309	317
6F Early Light Academy at Daybreak	$                      2,336	751
8C Mountainville Academy	$                      2,500	681
5E Edith Bowen	$                      2,617	302
8E Merit College Preparatory Academy	$                      2,640	400
3E C.S. Lewis Academy	$                      2,774	293
2F Rockwell Charter High School	$                      2,799	476
A3 DaVinci Academy	$                      2,868	378
89 Soldier Hollow	$                      3,940	223
9B Navigator Pointe Academy	$                      7,153	527
74 American Preparatory Academy	$                    14,365	1141
7E Gateway Preparatory Academy	$                    19,497	506

All data comes from Annual Financial Reports submitted by each school, which reports its own expenses. Expenses include function 26 (maintenance and operations, including utilities, custodial compensation and contracts, and custodial supplies) plus payments for charter school debt service (fund 31).