Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a public school. (Screen Capture)

(CNSNews.com) - The New York City public schools spent $24,109 per pupil in fiscal 2016, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That ranked New York City No. 1 in per pupil spending among the nation’s 100 largest public school districts, according to the Census Bureau, and was more than twice the nationwide per-pupil spending in public elementary and secondary schools, which was $11,762 in fiscal 2016.

Meanwhile, in those same New York City public schools, 72 percent of the eighth graders were not proficient in reading and 72 percent were not proficient math, according to results of the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests released by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Boston public schools spent $22,082 per pupil in fiscal 2016, ranking Boston No. 2 in per pupil spending among the nation’s 100 largest school districts.

In the Boston public schools, according to the NAEP results, 68 percent of eighth graders were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in math.

The other large public school districts that made it into the Top 10 for the highest per pupil spending were Howard County, Md. ($15,476); Montgomery County, Md. ($15,195); Baltimore City, Md. ($15,168); Prince Georges County, Md. ($14,582); Columbus, Ohio ($14,582); Fairfax County, Va. ($13,991); Hawaii Public Schools ($13,748); and Baltimore County, Md. ($13,512).

The per pupil spending published by the Census Bureau for these school districts is what the bureau calls "current spending" and excludes "capital outlays" for "construction of buildings, roads and other improvements" and "purchases of equipment, land and existing structures."

The Washington, D.C., public school district, which was not among the 100 largest school districts in the nation when measured by enrollment numbers, spent $19,159 per pupil in 2016. That was less than New York City or Boston, but more than any of the four Washington suburbs (Howard County, Montgomery County, Prince Georges County, and Fairfax County) that did rank in the Top 10 in per-pupil spending among the 100 largest school districts.

In the Washington, D.C. public schools, according to the NAEP results, 79 percent of eighth graders were not proficient in reading in 2017 and 80 percent were not proficient in math.

The NAEP reading and math tests are scored on a scale of 0 to 500. The eighth graders in the New York City public school scored an average of 258 in reading and 275 and math. To see how the NAEP test defines whether a student is "proficient" in reading click here, and to see how it defines whether a student is "proficient" in mathematics click here.

Department of Education chart showing the percentages of eighth graders in New York City public schools who are proficient or better in math and reading.