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Let’s try a game the kids like to play — two truths and a lie.

Following are three statements. Two are true, one is not …

1. Barrington has the best public schools in Rhode Island.

2. Barrington has one of the highest tax burdens in Rhode Island.

3. Barrington’s tax burden is so high because it spends so much money on schools.

The first is arguably true. Based on a slew of measurements — Blue Ribbons, student assessments, SAT scores, graduation rates, etc. — Barrington schools typically finish first in Rhode Island.

The second is also arguably true. The combination of high property values and high tax rate generate much higher property tax bills in Barrington than in many other Rhode Island suburbs.

The third statement is the lie.

Of course, that too could be arguable, as the “cost” of schools can be measured many ways — total spending, cost per household or cost per-pupil, for instance. For this analysis, consider the latter.

When ranked by spending-per-pupil, Barrington is awfully close to dead last in Rhode Island — 32nd out of 34 districts. Based on an analysis of 2019 public school finances (the last year for which comparable data is available for all Rhode Island districts), Barrington spent $15,874 per student, just a nudge above Woonsocket and Cumberland.

Barrington’s per-pupil spending falls below urban-core districts with struggling schools identified as in need of interventions, like Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, and well below comparable suburban districts like Portsmouth ($17,397 per student), North Kingstown ($18,024) and South Kingstown ($21,863).

Small town, big schools

There are two significant factors to consider while digesting the news that Barrington taxpayers spend less on education (per student) than taxpayers in places like Warwick or Westerly or West Greenwich. The first is student population.

Barrington’s per-pupil costs are so low, because its student population is so large. Despite being just the 23rd-largest municipality in Rhode Island (with a little more than 16,000 residents), Barrington has the 12th-largest student population.

In fact, only one other Rhode Island community has a greater disparity between the size of its total population and its student population — East Greenwich, which has about 3,000 fewer residents and often finishes second in the unofficial debate over “best schools in Rhode Island.” East Greenwich is one of the smallest communities in the Ocean State (32nd), but its student body ranks 12 spots higher.

The “math” here is obvious. The reputation for great schools leads many families to move into these towns, abnormally increasing the concentration of public school students. (As an aside, many of those families pick up and move out when the kids graduate high school, to be replaced by … a new family with young kids.)

The state factor

State funding is the second big influence on Barrington school finances. Let’s try another round of “two truths” …

1. Barrington gets almost no funding from the state.

2. Barrington has never gotten fair funding from the state.

3. Because of that state funding, Barrington taxpayers spend way more on education than others.

The first two are of course true. Despite having one of the largest student populations in Rhode Island (11th in the state), Barrington ranks 28th in state aid per-pupil. With $1,815 per student this school year, only South Kingstown, Portsmouth, East Greenwich, Block Island and Jamestown are receiving less per-student from the state.

A decade ago, that was heavily influenced by who had the pull at the Statehouse — state decision-makers were never fond of giving piles of cash to the rich folks from Barrington. In the past 10 years, everything changed. Now the state uses a cold-hearted, objective formula weighted heavily on socio-economic metrics (Barrington scores quite low) and enrollment (Barrington is beginning to score much higher). As a result, it may start to climb the state rankings next year, as state aid is projected to increase some 38 percent for Barrington. But at this point in time, the state’s funding is still relatively low, and always has been.

So once again, the last is the lie. Remove the state funding and break school finances down to strictly local funding per-pupil, and Barrington climbs the rankings considerably. It rises from 32nd in total spending per-pupil to 13th in local spending per-pupil. But it is still only 13th.

With their minuscule student populations, places like Block Island, Little Compton and Jamestown will always have the highest per-pupil costs in Rhode Island. However, taxpayers in Narragansett, South Kingstown, Scituate, Warwick, East Greenwich, Portsmouth and Lincoln are all spending more money, per-pupil, than are taxpayers in Barrington (see charts).

That is also not a new dynamic. In 2010, Barrington was 14th in the state in local school spending. Five years later, it was 13th, where it still sits today.

It’s about the density

There’s a lot to digest, so here’s a synopsis. Barrington taxpayers spend a lot of money on their schools. But they also have one of the largest student bodies in the state. Most importantly, they have one of the densest concentrations of students in the region — 23rd-largest town, but 12th-largest student body.

Sprinkle in Barrington’s historically low level of state funding — nearly last in terms of per-pupil state aid — and you’ve got the formula for the commonly-held perception that Barrington taxpayers spend a lot of money on their schools. They do.

They just don’t spend a lot of money on their students.

Only one community has a greater disparity between the ranking of its total population and the ranking its student body, East Greenwich, and that community has a much larger commercial base than Barrington. So the burden for funding what is largely considered the elite public school system in Rhode Island falls most heavily on the Barrington taxpayers.

But don’t say they spend a lot on their students. Compared to others, that’s just not true.