PHOENIX -- Gov. Janet Napolitano wants more than half of the state's school districts to explain why they are spending less than the national average of dollars in the classroom.

The governor on Wednesday noted that the most recent figures from the state Auditor General's office show the average Arizona school spends less than 58 cents of every dollar received on direct instruction. That compares with more than 61 cents nationwide.

Napolitano said she is not suggesting that local administrators and school board members are wasting money. And she said some districts, because of special circumstances, will always have high non-classroom costs.

The governor said, though, she and her staff may be able to use examples from schools that beat the national average to suggest ideas to those who lag.

But Mike Smith, who lobbies for the Arizona School Administrators Association, said the big non-instruction cost for most schools is utilities, something that hits Arizona schools particularly hard for heating at higher elevations and air conditioning in the lower desert. More to the point, he said Arizona spend so much less per child on education that there isn't really anywhere to cut.

"The pie is so small that when you say. 'We need you to move it from this piece of pie to that piece of pie.' it doesn't work that way,'' he said. "There's no flexibility in the administrative costs.''

Napolitano, however, said the state's financial crunch is going to mean that schools will get only the legally mandated inflation increase in state aid. She said that means schools will have to get more creative to ensure sufficient dollars for instruction.

The governor said her call simply reignites a challenge to school officials she made in 2003, shortly after taking office, to move a nickel of every dollar in state education funding from outside the classroom to direct instructional costs, including teacher salaries, supplies and textbooks. Napolitano said Wednesday that initiative shifted more than $100 million into classroom spending.

But the most recent statewide average of 57.9 cents of every dollar for instructional spending actually is less than the 58.2 cents reported when Napolitano took office and 58.6 cents a year later.

Questioned later about the discrepancy, gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said that statewide average is "irrelevant.'' She said Napolitano was specifically talking about the work she did with 27 selected school districts.

But even among that list the results are mixed.

Douglas Unified School District spent 61.0 cents of every dollar in the classroom in 2003. It rose to 63.6 cents the following year but then declined and is now at 59.6 cents.

Marana Unified School District has managed a more or less steady increase, from 56.5 cents in 2003 to 59.1 percent in the latest report.

But in Sunnyside Unified School District the spending was at 59.0 cents in 2003. It declined steady for the next three years and now is two cents below the 2003 figure.

The governor said there may be reasons why some districts never will reach the national average of classroom spending. For example, she said, a small rural school district will have much higher per-student costs for transportation.

"But it may be because they're doing things the way they've always done them,'' she said. Napolitano said that resuming her "nickel'' efforts will give school officials some ideas they might not have considered.

She cited the Chandler and Mesa schools, who she said have found new ways to manage electricity costs.

"When you actually start looking at food service contracts, maintenance contracts, bus service contracts for schools, energy contracts, there are places there were schools around the state ... have achieved some real savings which then they were able to put those dollars into other purposes,'' Napolitano said.

Smith said the money just isn't there to shift.

He noted that the Auditor General's report showed that Arizona schools, on average, have lower pure administrative costs -- non-teaching staff -- than the national figure.

Aside from utilities, Arizona schools spent proportionately more on student support services, things like counselors and nurses. Auditor General Debbie Davenport said that may reflect higher staffing levels to deal with the higher-than-average share of "at-risk'' students, with arizona having a higher percentage of school-age children living in poverty than the national average.

Arizona schools also spend a bigger share of education dollars on food services. Davenport said that could be due to the fact that a higher percentage of students in this state are participating in the National School Lunch Program which provides free or reducedprice meals to eligible youngsters.

And Smith said the report does not classify "master teachers'' who are mentoring new teachers as classroom expenses but treats them as if they were administrators.

School district / % 07 money in instruction

Arizona average / 57.9%

National average* / 61.2%

* from 2005, most recent figures available

Components of Arizona average:

Area / Arizona / Nationwide

Classroom instruction / 57.9% / 61.2%

Plant operation and maintenance / 11.3% / 9.6%

Administration / 9.5% / 11.0%

Student support / 7.3% / 5.2%

Instruction support / 4.8% / 4.8%

Food service / 4.7% / 3.9%

Transportation / 4.3% / 4.1%

Other / 0.2% / 0.2%

Ajo Unified / 56.7%

Altar Valley Elementary / 46.5%

Amphitheater Unified / 56.8%

Antelope Union / 43.7%

Apache Junction Unified / 55.8%

Bisbee Unified / 49.7%

Camp Verde Unified / 55.4%

Catalina Foothills Unified / 57.9%

Cave Creek Unified / 55.5%

Chandler Unified / 63.2%

ClarkdaleJerome Elementary 59.1%

Continental Elementary / 56.2%

CottonwoodOak Creek Elementary / 53.4%

Crane Elementary / 55.8%

Deer Valley Unified / 60.5%

Dysart Unified / 58.9%

Douglas Unified / 59.5%

Flagstaff Unified / 58.5%

Flowing Wells Unified / 59.0%

Fountain Hills Unified / 57.9%

Gadsden Elementary / 50.5%

Gilbert Unified / 63.0%

Grand Canyon Unified / 48.1%

Higley Unified / 57.7% /

Kyrene Elementary / 63.5%

Marana Unified / 59.1%

Mesa Unified / 62.1%

Mingus Union / 62.4%

Naco Elementary / 63.0%

Nogales Unified / 55.0%

Oracle Elementary / 50.2%

Palominas Elementary / 55.5%

Paradise Valley Unified / 62.4%

Patagonia Elementary / 55.0%

Patagonia Union / 42.2%

Peoria Unified / 59.6%

Queen Creek Unified / 60.0%

Red Rock Elementary / 54.3%

Sahaurita Unified / 54.9%

Scottsdale Unified / 61.3%

SedonaOak Creek Joint Unified / 54.9%

Sierra Vista Unified / 55.5%

Somerton Elementary / 50.6%

Sonoita Elementary / 68.5%

Sunnyside Unified / 57.0%

Tanque Verde Unified / 56.7%

Tempe Elementary / 55.4%

Tempe Union / 59.7%

Tombstone Unified / 47.7%

Tucson Unified / 54.3%

Vail Unified / 59.3%

Williams Unified / 56.5%

Yuma Elementary / 51.9%

Yuma Union / 56.5%

 Source: Auditor General's Office