Florida ranked near the bottom of the barrel nation-wide in how much it spent per-pupil in fiscal year 2011, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
With a ranking of 42nd, the Sunshine’s state $8,887 per-pupil expenditure was just ahead of states like Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Utah, along with a few others.
The Census data was drawn from the school year beginning July 1, 2010 and ended on June 30, 2011. The last two years’ data was not considered.
In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott slashed the education budget by just over $1 billion, but restored a similar amount the following year. The new budget signed by Scott on Monday, included another $1 billion for spending on education.
The national average per-pupil spending was $10,560 in 2011, according to the Census Bureau.
