Extracurricular Education Cost

Introduction

This paper will compare the costs in Paterson Public School building to a similarly sized building in Newark Public School district. According to the available information from Paterson public school website, there are 26,193 pupils on roll in Passaic County, Paterson City. Out of the this number, 22,723 are on roll regular full-time, 3,342 on special full time and 128 on roll register adult high school. According to the budget proposal titled “Governor’s 2012-13 aid proposal,” building in Newark Public School district had cost $3,969,138 in 2011-12 and the amount is expected to remain the same for the academic year 2012-13.

According to the Passaic, Paterson City estimates, the total budgetary comparative per pupil cost for the current year, 2012-13, was originally $15,855 but was revised upwards to $16,394.

The following are the estimated costs for the academic year 2012-13 and some are the actual costs for the previous academic year 2011-12.

1.) Athletics

For athletics, Paterson Public School is expected to cost $53,500 in 2013 up from $37,832 from 2013. For schools in Newark Public School district, the total estimated cost for athletics is $387,753 with sports equipment costing $9,469. Although there is a slight improvement in percentage cost as from the previous year, athletics in Paterson Public School costs are way less than in Newark Public School district which cost a whopping $387,753. Paterson Public School needs to focus more on athletics as a result.

2.) Intramurals

For Paterson Public School, the total cost for extracurricular costs was revised to $78 per pupil from the original budget of $76 per pupil. This was an increase from $67 per pupil that were the actual costs the previous year. However, the proposed budget for 2013-2014 is way less, at $54 per pupil. Total estimated costs for co-curricular activities in Newark Public School district are estimated to be $39,906 during the academic year 2012-2013. Out of which salaries will form bulk of the costs accounting to $39,406 and contractual $500.

This is an indication that Paterson Public School spends less per student at $54 when it comes to intramurals than in Newark Public district who spend about $782 per student. Paterson Public School needs to invest more in sports like other schools outside the county.

3.) Field trips

In Passaic County, Paterson city, vocational education is expected to cost less and according to the presented budget, it will cost $193,281 in the academic year.  Field trip otherwise known as vocational education is expected to cost $425,000 translating to $8,400 per student cost in Newark Public School district. 2012-13. As with other earlier estimates, Paterson Public School spends less when it comes to outside of the classroom. Field trips only cost $193,281 in Paterson public schools while it is $425,000 in Newark public schools, a massive difference.

4.) Clubs

From the available information, the neither Paterson public school nor Newark public school have provision funds for clubs and club development.

5.) Supplies

Classroom general supplies and textbooks in Passaic county, Paterson city are expected to cost per pupil $327. This is an increase from the earlier estimated budget of $293 for the 2012-2013 original budget. Total supplies for, Paterson Public School will amount to $19,063.

6.) Equipment

In Paterson Public School, the total equipment costs per pupil calculation for the 2013-2013 original budget was $29 but this was adjusted upwards to $55, revised budget for the same period.

7.) Consumables

It is worth noting that the Paterson public school has no provision for consumables. The same can be said of Newark public school.

8.) Textbooks

Nonpublic textbooks for the whole year were $16,875 for the 2011-2013, actual costs. The revised 2012-13 costs were $38,956 while the anticipated costs in 2013-14 are estimated to clock $30,752 for Paterson public school. For Newark Public School district, the total cost of software, library and textbook will amount to $175,808 an increase from $184,406 from the previous academic year 2011-2012. For the textbooks at Paterson public school, they represent ({$38,956/$16,394}*100%). This represents a 2.93% of the total budgetary cost.  

Conclusion

As can be seen from the above budget estimates, Paterson School District is taking a noble yet challenging of providing a extracurricular activities for its students. However, it has not provided the required monetary requirements like other schools for example when compared to Newark public school district. The government is the main source of revenue for both general and special education although the local government is contributing more in this project and thus need to provide more funds for extracurricular activities. The extracurricular expenditure is expected to rise steadily according to the next year academic budget estimates and hence there is need for strategies to ensure proper management of funds.