Alaska's public schools cost $1.2 billion in the 1992-93 school year. That included both operating and capital spending and amounted to about $10,000 for each of the state's 119,000 elementary and secondary students. Roughly one-quarter of the state government's general fund budget went to the schools, covering 64 percent of costs. About 30 percent of all taxes raised by cities and boroughs covered 18 percent of school costs; residents of rural school districts known as Regional Education Attendance Areas (REAAs) paid no local taxes. School districts covered 4 percent of costs from fees and other local sources. The federal government paid 14 percent of school costs. The School Foundation Program (a program intended to equalize money available to all school districts) paid for half of all the costs of Alaska's schools; of the $614 million distributed by the foundation, $572 million was state money, $42 million was federal. Per student costs varied from $1,600 for correspondence students to approximately $15,000 in REAAs and at Mt. Edgecumbe, a boarding high school for rural students. Operating expenses made up about 82 percent of school costs, and capital expenses 18 percent. The biggest expense was classroom instruction. Two-thirds of the $214 million in school capital spending was for debt service on existing bonds, and one-third was for new bonds and construction projects. Growth in spending matched growth in the number of students in the early 1990s, but real spending adjusted for inflation dropped about 7 percent between 1990 and 1993. Includes six charts. (JAT)