In other news, dogs bark.

OK, I don’t really mean to make light. School budgets are serious business and rising budgets take their toll on all taxpayers.

And the Empire Center for New York State Policy has issued its 2008-09 School Budget Spotlight (download the report as a PDF) showing school districts are increasing per-pupil spending for the next school year “by nearly one and a half times the current rate of inflation… .”

They analyzed the proposed budgets for 634 school districts that had submitted data to the state Education Department for its annual school property tax report cards.

Here’s what the report says:

Preliminary data from the Education Department indicate that spending per-pupil will increase by an average of 5.8 percent, to a statewide average of $18,768, and per-pupil tax levies will increase by an average of 4.2 percent, to a statewide average of $10,796, under budgets proposed for the 2008-09 school year, the Empire Center found. Annual consumer price inflation is now estimated at just under 4 percent.

In Rockland, where average per-pupil spending would increase by 4.4 percent, the East Ramapo school district is missing from the list, as the superintendent and school board just approved a pared-down budget that has a tax increase of less than an austerity budget would. In Putnam, where average per-pupil spending would increase by 4.4 percent, all districts are accounted for in the report. In Westchester, where average per-pupil spending would increase by 5.2 percent, the New Rochelle, Pocantico Hills, Rye and Scarsdale districts’ data are missing from the report.

The region of the state with the biggest average per-pupil spending increase, according to the report, is the Southern Tier, that strip of the state bordering Pennsylvania. The region as a whole averages a 7.5 percent increase.

The report relies on information filed with the state before the Legislature boosted state aid by $1.8 billion, so the accompanying press release does note that some tax proposals probably have therefore decreased.

Something to keep in mind while poring through all this data, however, is that many of the increases are mandated by contracts (with teachers, administrators and support staff), as well as federal and state requirements. Add to that ever-rising fuel and food costs, and it’s no surprise all districts are increasing spending.