This study examines expenditure allocation patterns of two Texas school districts that experienced diverging enrollments in relation to each other over eight school years. Expenditure allocations to general and specific operational areas and various student groups are examined in relation to changes in enrollment. In addition, how expenditures per student changed as a result of increasing and decreasing enrollment is explored. Ratio analysis, based on the percentage contribution to total General Fund expenditures, determined the changes in expenditure allocations to operational areas and student groups. These changes are compared to changes in enrollment. Expenditure per student calculations are made using inflation-adjusted data and regression analysis, employing Pearson's r, determines how well enrollment changes explain changes in expenditures per student. Results indicate that increasing and decreasing enrollments had little effect on how the districts allocated general and specific resources as no significant relationships were noted. Resources allocated to basic instructional services, which served the largest number of students, were indicative of the direction of enrollment suggesting that students in districts with increasing enrollment garner more resources. Total expenditures per student showed no correlation in the decreasing enrollment district and a marginally strong positive relationship in the increasing enrollment district. The empirical findings did not support the inverse relationship between enrollment and expenditures per student referenced in the literature. The findings suggest that in addition to enrollment, there are other factors at work that dictate how resources are allocated. In addition to determining these other factors, incorporating the district's federal budgets into the analysis to determine if the inclusion of all available resources would significantly alter the findings of how each district allocated resources as a result of changes in enrollment is warranted. / text

This study analyzes budgets of Texas school districts experiencing declining enrollments, as opposed to districts with increasing or steady enrollments. This study identifies how schools are expending funds to meet those needs while dealing with enrollment changes. A total of 924 school districts are studied. The changes in average daily attendance from 1993-1994 to 2003-2004 are used to categorize each district as having increasing, stable, or decreasing enrollments. The total dollar amount expended is compared to the total number of students in each district to determine the amount expended per student. The amounts expended for special education career and technology education, bilingual education, and compensatory education are compared to the number of students being served by those programs to determine a dollar amount that can also be compared from the 1993-1994 and 2003-2004 school years. The per-student expenditures for each educational program are compared to the overall per-student expenditures in each enrollment category (increasing, stable, decreasing). The study reveals no clear pattern of change in the comparison of overall spending to individual program spending as district enrollments fluctuated.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the enrollment in the academic and non-academic courses taught in the senior high schools of Texas.