Just the Facts: Sources and Uses of Public Education Dollars

Published July 1, 2004

Total expenditures on U.S. K-12 public education and other related programs in the 2000-2001 school year were $411.5 billion, up $29.6 billion, or 7.8 percent, from 1999-2000. Total revenues for the same period were 97.4 percent of total expenditures, or $10.6 billion lower at $400.9 billion.

Current expenditures, the most common way of reporting public school expenditures, were 84.6 percent of total expenditures, or $63.3 billion lower at $348.2 billion. Total expenditures per student in 2000-2001 were up $567 from 1999-2000 to $8,718, or 7.0 percent higher.

If per-pupil expenditures continue to increase at 6 percent a year, average U.S. spending for K-12 education for the school year starting this fall would be about $11,000 per student, with total expenditures exceeding a half a trillion dollars.

Where the Money Comes From
Almost half (49.7 percent) of the $400.9 billion in revenues came from state sources. Another 43.1 percent came from local and intermediate sources, with the federal government providing just 7.3 percent, or $29.1 billion.

Among states with more than one school district, the state share of revenues varied from just 28.6 percent in Nevada to 71.1 percent in New Mexico and 70.7 percent in Vermont. Federal revenues ranged from 3.9 percent in New Jersey to 15.8 percent in Alaska.

Where the Money Goes
Of the $411.5 billion in total expenditures, the vast majority (84.6 percent) went to current expenditures for school operations, with the current expenditure dollar going roughly two-thirds to instruction and one-third to support services. Just 2.5 percent of total expenditures went to debt service, with another 9.5 percent going for facility construction/renovation and another 1.9 percent for replacement equipment.

As a share of total expenditures, the following variations are seen at the state level: current expenditures, from 67.8 percent in Arizona to 95.3 percent in Rhode Island; facility construction/renovation, from 0.5 percent in Massachusetts to 22.4 percent in Arizona; debt service, from 0.8 percent in California to 6.9 percent in Indiana.


Source and Use of Funds for U.S. Public Schools: School Year 2000-01
WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM PROCESSING UNIT WHERE THE MONEY GOES
Share of Total Expenditures
  Share of Total Revenues   Share of Total Expenditures
Total Revenues
($000)
Local+Intermediate State Federal State/Federal City Student Membership
(Fall 2000)
Total Expenditures
($000)
Per-Pupil Expenditure Current Expenditures Facility Construction/
Renovation
Replacement
Equipment
Other
Programs
Interest
on Debt
400,919,024 43.1% 49.7% 7.3% United_States 47,203,539 411,518,072 $8,718 84.6% 9.5% 1.9% 1.5% 2.5%
4,812,302 30.7% 59.9% 9.4% Alabama 739,992 5,075,425 $6,859 85.8% 9.1% 1.4% 2.1% 1.7%
1,370,271 27.1% 57.1% 15.8% Alaska 133,356 1,405,783 $10,542 87.4% 9.4% 1.3% 0.5% 1.4%
5,797,151 45.8% 43.6% 10.6% Arizona 877,696 6,837,290 $7,790 67.8% 22.4% 4.1% 0.5% 5.3%
2,812,169 31.1% 59.6% 9.3% Arkansas 449,959 2,809,612 $6,244 89.2% 5.9% 2.6% 0.3% 2.0%
51,007,510 30.3% 61.5% 8.2% California 6,140,814 50,549,119 $8,232 84.9% 10.6% 2.0% 1.8% 0.8%
5,349,899 52.9% 41.5% 5.6% Colorado 724,508 5,721,045 $7,896 83.2% 9.7% 2.1% 0.8% 4.2%
6,460,491 56.2% 39.5% 4.3% Connecticut 562,179 6,633,858 $11,800 85.8% 9.1% 1.5% 1.6% 2.0%
1,112,519 26.2% 65.9% 7.9% Delaware 114,676 1,191,951 $10,394 86.2% 9.5% 1.9% 1.3% 1.2%
17,866,868 42.4% 48.7% 9.0% Florida 2,434,821 18,752,867 $7,702 80.1% 14.0% 1.3% 2.5% 2.1%
12,191,113 44.7% 48.9% 6.4% Georgia 1,444,937 11,865,052 $8,211 84.4% 11.7% 1.9% 0.4% 1.5%
1,682,330 1.8% 89.8% 8.4% Hawaii 184,360 1,410,119 $7,649 86.2% 5.4% 3.0% 2.4% 2.9%
1,593,966 30.6% 61.3% 8.1% Idaho 245,117 1,564,207 $6,381 89.7% 5.8% 2.3% 0.3% 1.9%
18,217,079 58.6% 33.6% 7.8% Illinois 2,048,792 18,932,238 $9,241 82.7% 11.0% 3.0% 0.8% 2.6%
9,033,180 41.3% 53.5% 5.1% Indiana 989,267 9,084,055 $9,183 83.1% 7.6% 1.7% 0.6% 6.9%
3,954,178 44.6% 49.2% 6.3% Iowa 495,080 3,918,833 $7,916 87.5% 7.4% 2.9% 0.6% 1.5%
3,597,726 32.5% 61.1% 6.4% Kansas 470,610 3,591,632 $7,632 90.7% 2.4% 3.7% 0.1% 3.1%
4,509,893 30.1% 59.9% 9.9% Kentucky 665,850 4,339,910 $6,518 93.3% 0.9% 2.9% 1.1% 1.8%
5,060,133 39.2% 49.4% 11.5% Louisiana 743,089 5,017,490 $6,752 89.4% 6.2% 1.9% 0.4% 2.0%
1,934,178 47.5% 44.6% 7.9% Maine 207,037 1,902,758 $9,190 89.6% 5.8% 1.6% 1.0% 2.0%
7,846,891 56.6% 37.3% 6.1% Maryland 852,920 7,966,173 $9,340 88.4% 9.2% 1.2% 0.2% 1.0%
10,148,498 51.4% 43.6% 5.0% Massachusetts 975,150 9,833,455 $10,084 94.3% 0.5% 1.3% 1.3% 2.6%
16,358,532 28.4% 64.8% 6.8% Michigan 1,720,626 17,266,301 $10,035 82.5% 10.1% 2.1% 2.0% 3.3%
7,873,549 34.8% 60.5% 4.7% Minnesota 854,340 8,104,831 $9,487 80.6% 9.7% 2.4% 3.7% 3.7%
2,903,534 30.8% 55.4% 13.8% Mississippi 497,871 2,885,800 $5,796 89.3% 4.8% 3.0% 0.7% 2.2%
7,102,501 55.6% 37.5% 6.9% Missouri 912,744 7,148,100 $7,831 85.0% 6.8% 3.2% 2.0% 2.9%
1,140,168 40.9% 47.6% 11.5% Montana 154,875 1,123,812 $7,256 92.7% 3.9% 1.7% 0.7% 1.0%
2,307,804 57.8% 34.9% 7.3% Nebraska 286,199 2,378,237 $8,310 86.9% 7.6% 3.5% 0.1% 1.8%
2,393,494 66.3% 28.6% 5.1% Nevada 340,706 2,702,909 $7,933 73.2% 18.6% 2.7% 0.5% 5.0%
1,714,147 43.9% 51.6% 4.5% New_Hampshire 208,461 1,723,025 $8,265 88.1% 8.3% 1.4% 0.2% 1.9%
15,967,075 54.3% 41.8% 3.9% New_Jersey 1,313,405 16,571,448 $12,617 89.2% 7.4% 0.9% 1.1% 1.5%
2,426,705 15.0% 71.1% 13.9% New_Mexico 320,306 2,375,194 $7,415 85.1% 11.8% 1.0% 0.6% 1.4%
34,266,171 48.1% 46.2% 5.7% New_York 2,882,188 35,703,439 $12,388 86.5% 6.4% 1.0% 3.6% 2.4%
9,262,181 26.4% 66.3% 7.2% North_Carolina 1,293,638 9,920,176 $7,668 82.8% 12.8% 1.6% 0.5% 2.4%
767,798 47.7% 39.0% 13.4% North_Dakota 109,201 739,258 $6,770 90.5% 4.4% 3.3% 0.8% 1.0%
16,649,361 50.8% 43.2% 6.1% Ohio 1,835,049 16,327,367 $8,898 85.1% 7.6% 2.9% 2.6% 1.9%
4,034,825 30.7% 59.1% 10.2% Oklahoma 623,110 4,082,423 $6,552 91.9% 5.2% 1.5% 0.5% 0.9%
4,564,408 36.4% 56.2% 7.4% Oregon 546,231 4,677,930 $8,564 87.9% 7.5% 1.5% 0.4% 2.7%
17,053,891 55.7% 37.8% 6.5% Pennsylvania 1,814,311 17,835,344 $9,830 83.5% 9.2% 1.5% 1.9% 3.9%
1,545,675 51.9% 42.2% 5.9% Rhode_Island 157,347 1,538,412 $9,777 95.3% 0.6% 1.2% 1.2% 1.8%
5,459,399 37.9% 53.9% 8.2% South_Carolina 677,411 5,539,077 $8,177 81.1% 13.6% 1.9% 1.1% 2.3%
885,229 52.5% 35.3% 12.1% South_Dakota 128,603 961,630 $7,478 82.8% 10.5% 4.4% 0.3% 1.9%
5,711,950 46.5% 44.3% 9.2% Tennessee 909,161 6,280,529 $6,908 82.3% 12.3% 2.1% 0.5% 2.8%
30,469,570 49.1% 42.2% 8.7% Texas 4,059,619 32,885,506 $8,101 80.7% 13.1% 1.8% 0.7% 3.7%
2,745,656 34.0% 58.6% 7.5% Utah 481,485 2,750,282 $5,712 81.8% 11.6% 1.8% 2.3% 2.5%
1,035,679 23.4% 70.7% 5.8% Vermont 102,049 1,014,673 $9,943 92.1% 4.2% 1.9% 0.3% 1.5%
9,313,330 52.1% 42.3% 5.6% Virginia 1,144,915 9,690,316 $8,464 86.0% 9.1% 2.4% 0.5% 2.0%
8,058,875 29.3% 62.9% 7.8% Washington 1,004,770 8,152,660 $8,114 83.2% 11.1% 1.7% 0.5% 3.6%
2,375,788 28.7% 61.1% 10.2% West_Virginia 286,367 2,348,364 $8,201 91.9% 3.3% 2.9% 1.4% 0.5%
8,327,255 41.8% 53.1% 5.0% Wisconsin 879,476 8,553,822 $9,726 84.7% 8.5% 2.1% 1.4% 3.2%
803,414 41.2% 50.2% 8.6% Wyoming 89,940 783,319 $8,709 90.0% 5.1% 3.6% 0.2% 1.2%
1,042,711 88.9% 0.0% 11.1% District_of_Columbia 68,925 1,051,014 $15,249 79.0% 15.5% 2.0% 1.1% 2.4%

George A. Clowes is managing editor of School Reform News. His email address is [email protected].

For more information …

The raw data used in the accompanying table are taken from the publication “Statistics in Brief May 2003, Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2000-2001,” from the Web site of the National Center for Education Statistics at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003362.pdf.