Here’s The Best School District In Massachusetts: Report

WESTON, MA—A new report has ranked the best school district in Massachusetts, and the answer likely will not surprise you. The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and commentary, sifted through various school data to determine the best school district in every state.

In Massachusetts, the Weston School District topped the list. The district has 2,253 students and spends $$23,614 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 95 percent and 83.9 percent of adults have a bachelor’s degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• child poverty
• spending per student
• graduation rate
• teachers per student
• percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree
• preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the U.S. spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

“That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country,” the authors wrote. “The majority of a school’s budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage.”

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards.

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

In Massachusetts' Middlesex County, which includes Weston, the median household income from 2012-2016 was $89,019, significantly higher than the national average of $55,322. The median household income in Weston was $191,744. Furthermore, the poverty rate in Middlesex County was just 7.7 percent compared to the national average of 12.7 percent.

The nationwide rankings report, published on Monday, follows a January report from the same site that found Massachusetts ranked Massachusetts first in the country for best schools.

Here’s a breakdown of schools in Massachusetts, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 87.5 percent (13th highest)
• Public school spending: $14,569 per pupil (11th highest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 50.8 percent (math) 45.7 percent (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 42.7 percent (the highest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median: 62.6 percent (the highest)

"Even top-ranked states in education do not necessarily lead uniformly in the three categories measured — chances of success, school finance, and achievements — but Massachusetts does. Parent education levels, for example, which are among the best predictors of student success, are among the highest in Massachusetts."

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock