While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. As states decide whether their school districts will have in-person learning this fall, studies show that low-income students will suffer the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $460 - $1,154 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
Washington has the 17th least equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 294 districts in Washington based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Main Findings
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category. Rank 1 on the “Expenditures Ranking” means highest expenditures and Rank 1 on “Income Ranking” means lowest income.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in Washington
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tumwater School District 33 | 0.15 | $12,458 | $72,173 |
| 2 | Orchard Prairie School District 123 | 0.25 | $11,800 | $74,844 |
| 3 | Burlington Edison School District 100 | 0.32 | $14,000 | $65,782 |
| 4 | Adna School District 226 | 0.37 | $11,714 | $74,808 |
| 5 | Bethel School District 403 | 0.7 | $12,266 | $73,271 |
| 6 | Damman School District 7 | 0.77 | $11,424 | $75,714 |
| 7 | Woodland School District 404 | 0.85 | $13,303 | $68,220 |
| 8 | South Whidbey School District 206 | 0.89 | $13,014 | $70,419 |
| 9 | Darrington Consolidated School District 330 | 1.05 | $18,535 | $47,375 |
| 10 | Fife School District 417 | 1.32 | $11,808 | $73,854 |
| 11 | Anacortes School District 103 | 1.41 | $13,318 | $69,535 |
| 12 | Cape Flattery School District 401 | 1.55 | $19,162 | $46,473 |
| 13 | Federal Way School District 210 | 1.56 | $13,256 | $69,869 |
| 14 | Lakewood School District 306 | 2.01 | $12,205 | $71,866 |
| 15 | San Juan Island School District 149 | 2.17 | $14,266 | $66,238 |
| 16 | Blaine School District 503 | 2.24 | $13,461 | $66,753 |
| 17 | Quilcene School District 48 | 2.41 | $16,439 | $54,855 |
| 18 | Olympia School District 111 | 2.56 | $12,795 | $69,193 |
| 19 | Odessa School District 105-157-166J | 2.69 | $17,126 | $55,227 |
| 20 | South Kitsap School District 402 | 2.82 | $12,460 | $70,366 |
| 21 | Richland School District 400 | 2.82 | $11,455 | $77,767 |
| 22 | Evergreen School District 114 | 3.38 | $12,881 | $68,355 |
| 23 | Paterson School District 50 | 3.54 | $14,098 | $63,438 |
| 24 | Lyle School District 406 | 3.63 | $16,624 | $53,380 |
| 25 | Tenino School District 402 | 4.17 | $12,555 | $69,167 |
| 26 | Selkirk School District 70 | 4.47 | $17,348 | $50,000 |
| 27 | Auburn School District 408 | 4.5 | $12,842 | $67,829 |
| 28 | North Thurston School District 3 | 4.51 | $12,622 | $68,698 |
| 29 | Centerville School District 215 | 4.79 | $14,095 | $62,692 |
| 30 | Central Kitsap School District 401 | 4.87 | $12,629 | $74,365 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,919 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from of the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.