Utah has once again ranked last in the nation in per-pupil spending, a spot it has held for more than two decades — meaning students who started kindergarten when the trend began could have graduated from college in that time.
The numbers, released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, show the state allocated $7,628 per student using totals from 2018, the most recent available. That keeps Utah in its longtime place at No. 51 behind Idaho, which spent $7,771.
“We are just last year after year after year,” said Shawn Teigen, vice president of the Utah Foundation, a research organization that studies education data. “It would be shocking if it weren’t the same thing every year. But now it’s just no longer a surprise.”