Albuquerque Public Schools spending rises to $22,877 per pupil

The Rio Grande Foundation does its best to track the budget for large government agencies. One of the very largest in New Mexico is Albuquerque Public Schools.

We have always taken the simple approach when calculating the District’s budget: divide dollars spent by the number of students. As expected, particularly given the abandonment of APS by families with school-aged children, the District is receiving more and more money to educate fewer and fewer students.

In FY 2020, the District spent $1,475,755,646 to educate 79,366 students. That comes to $18,594.31 per student.

In FY 2022, the District spent $1,658,589,579 to educate just 72,500 students. That comes to a mind-blowing $22,877.10.

By comparison, tuition at Sandia Prep, one of the top private schools in the State cost $23,410. St. Pius X, the City of Albuquerque’s largest Catholic High School cost “just” $12,900 per student.

With more money than ever flowing into New Mexico’s government schools (and more families than ever fleeing them), it is very likely that APS’ per-pupil costs will skyrocket for years to come.