12/2002 The Friedman Report: Billions for School Choice

Published December 1, 2002

States Spend Billions on
Private and Out-of-State Schools

School Year 1999-2000
State Tuition to Out-of-State
and Private Schools
($000)
As a % of
Total State
Instructional Expenses
United States $2,231,271 1.1%
Alabama $1,547 0.1%
Alaska $63 0.0%
Arizona $111,814 4.3%
Arkansas $2,300 0.2%
California $398,294 1.7%
Colorado $37,710 1.5%
Connecticut $193,305 5.6%
Delaware $12,838 2.2%
Florida $43 0.0%
Georgia $2,077 0.0%
Hawaii $0 0.0%
Idaho $653 0.1%
Illinois $142,295 1.6%
Indiana $57 0.0%
Iowa $15,136 0.8%
Kansas $1,236 0.1%
Kentucky $0 0.0%
Louisiana $109 0.0%
Maine $53,247 5.0%
Maryland $158,121 3.9%
Massachusetts $206,913 3.6%
Michigan $93 0.0%
Minnesota $3,121 0.1%
Mississippi $2,754 0.2%
Missouri $0 0.0%
Montana $792 0.1%
Nebraska $17,563 1.5%
Nevada $387 0.0%
New Hampshire $69,862 7.5%
New Jersey $400,369 5.1%
New Mexico $0 0.0%
New York $0 0.0%
North Carolina $0 0.0%
North Dakota $1,159 0.3%
Ohio $76,589 1.0%
Oklahoma $0 0.0%
Oregon $21,602 0.9%
Pennsylvania $118,537 1.3%
Rhode Island $34,922 3.8%
South Carolina $531 0.0%
South Dakota $5,315 1.2%
Tennessee $0 0.0%
Texas $30,728 0.2%
Utah $218 0.0%
Vermont $40,911 7.3%
Virginia $1,164 0.0%
Washington $6,807 0.2%
West Virginia $171 0.0%
Wisconsin $59,424 1.4%
Wyoming $496 0.1%
District of Columbia $0 0.0%
SOURCE: Table 6 in Statistics in Brief: Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 1999-2000, April 2002 (Publication # NCES 2002367), U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002367.pdf

Nationwide, some $2.2 billion is spent by public schools on tuition to out-of-state and private schools, according to data newly available from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education. Individual state spending for such purposes is often substantial, with New Jersey and California each spending close to $400 million a year, and Massachusetts spending more than $200 million a year.

According to School Reform News calculations (see table), the $2.2 billion national expenditure represents 1.1 percent of instructional expenditures. State-by-state percentages vary from zero for many states to highs of 7.5, 7.3, 5.6, 5.1, and 5.0 percent in New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maine respectively. Of these top five, only Vermont and Maine have voucher programs. Other states with voucher programs in 1999-2000–Ohio and Wisconsin–spend on out-of-state and private schools close to the national average of 1.1 percent.