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Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 205. Summary of expenditures for public elementary and secondary education, by purpose: Selected years, 1919-20 through 2009-10
School year Total expenditures Current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education Other cur-
rent expen-
ditures2
Capital outlay3 Interest on school debt
Total Admini-
stration
Instruction Plant operation Plant main-
tenance
Fixed charges Other school services1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
  Amounts in thousands of current dollars
1919-20 $1,036,151 $861,120 $36,752   $632,556   $115,707   $30,432 $9,286 $36,387   $3,277 $153,543 $18,212
1929-30 2,316,790 1,843,552 78,680   1,317,727   216,072   78,810 50,270 101,993   9,825 370,878 92,536
1939-40 2,344,049 1,941,799 91,571   1,403,285   194,365   73,321 50,116 129,141   13,367 257,974 130,909
1949-50 5,837,643 4,687,274 220,050   3,112,340   427,587   214,164 261,469 451,663   35,614 1,014,176 100,578
1959-60 15,613,254 12,329,388 528,408   8,350,738   1,085,036   422,586 909,323 1,033,297   132,566 2,661,786 489,514
                               
1969-70 40,683,429 34,217,773 1,606,646   23,270,158   2,537,257   974,941 3,266,920 2,561,856   635,803 4,659,072 1,170,782
1979-80 95,961,561 86,984,142 4,263,757   53,257,937   9,744,785   (4) 11,793,934 7,923,729   597,585 6,506,167 1,873,666
1989-90 212,769,564 188,229,359 16,346,991 5 113,550,405 5 20,261,415 5 (4) 38,070,548 5 2,982,543 17,781,342 3,776,321
1999-2000 381,838,155 323,888,508 25,079,298 5 199,968,138 5 31,190,295 5 (4) 67,650,776 5 5,457,015 43,357,186 9,135,445
2000-01 410,811,185 348,360,841 26,689,181 5 214,333,003 5 34,034,158 5 (4) 73,304,498 5 6,063,700 46,220,704 10,165,940
                               
2001-02 435,364,404 368,378,006 28,309,047 5 226,668,386 5 34,829,109 5 (4) 78,571,464 5 6,530,554 49,960,542 10,495,301
2002-03 454,906,912 387,593,617 29,751,958 5 237,731,734 5 36,830,517 5 (4) 83,279,408 5 6,873,762 48,940,374 11,499,160
2003-04 474,241,531 403,390,369 30,864,875 5 247,444,620 5 38,720,429 5 (4) 86,360,444 5 6,927,551 50,842,973 13,080,638
2004-05 499,568,736 425,047,565 32,666,223 5 260,046,266 5 40,926,881 5 (4) 91,408,195 5 7,691,468 53,528,382 13,301,322
2005-06 528,268,772 449,131,342 34,197,083 5 273,760,798 5 44,313,835 5 (4) 96,859,626 5 7,415,575 57,375,299 14,346,556
                               
2006-07 562,194,807 476,814,206 36,213,814 5 290,678,482 5 46,828,916 5 (4) 103,092,995 5 7,804,253 62,863,465 14,712,882
2007-08 597,313,726 506,884,219 38,203,341 5 308,238,664 5 49,362,661 5 (4) 111,079,554 5 8,307,720 66,426,299 15,695,488
2008-096 610,326,007 518,922,842 38,811,325 5 316,075,710 5 50,559,027 5 (4) 113,476,779 5 8,463,793 65,890,367 17,049,004
2009-10 607,235,611 525,497,898 38,984,615 5 321,929,831 5 49,931,515 5 (4) 114,651,936 5 8,407,708 55,650,868 17,679,138
  Amounts in thousands of constant 2011-12 dollars
1919-20 $12,372,321 $10,282,337 $438,843   $7,553,133   $1,381,617   $363,378 $110,881 $434,485   $39,130 $1,833,404 $217,463
1929-30 30,800,977 24,509,430 1,046,025   17,518,756   2,872,608   1,047,754 668,323 1,355,964   130,620 4,930,704 1,230,236
1939-40 38,169,840 31,619,713 1,491,117   22,850,701   3,164,985   1,193,939 816,075 2,102,896   217,664 4,200,777 2,131,686
1949-50 56,092,692 45,039,027 2,114,414   29,905,825   4,108,594   2,057,857 2,512,401 4,339,935   342,207 9,745,005 966,433
1959-60 120,921,286 95,488,452 4,092,406   64,674,665   8,403,370   3,272,837 7,042,511 8,002,662   1,026,695 20,614,959 3,791,180
                               
1969-70 245,086,023 206,135,504 9,678,793   140,184,606   15,285,000   5,873,261 19,680,653 15,433,190   3,830,219 28,067,286 7,053,051
1979-80 281,291,366 254,975,929 12,498,317   156,114,570   28,564,811   (4) 34,571,466 23,226,764   1,751,696 19,071,476 5,492,262
1989-90 381,326,291 337,345,258 29,297,129 5 203,505,398 5 36,312,573 5 (4) 68,230,158 5 5,345,323 31,867,778 6,767,935
1999-2000 513,272,923 435,376,086 33,711,991 5 268,800,353 5 41,926,490 5 (4) 90,937,249 5 7,335,407 58,281,420 12,280,011
2000-01 533,926,435 452,760,461 34,687,613 5 278,566,067 5 44,233,793 5 (4) 95,272,988 5 7,880,919 60,072,502 13,212,551
                               
2001-02 555,994,100 470,447,276 36,152,848 5 289,473,103 5 44,479,472 5 (4) 100,341,852 5 8,340,024 63,803,486 13,403,314
2002-03 568,458,780 484,343,035 37,178,512 5 297,073,286 5 46,023,989 5 (4) 104,067,248 5 8,589,560 61,156,656 14,369,529
2003-04 579,932,367 493,291,110 37,743,511 5 302,590,842 5 47,349,776 5 (4) 105,606,982 5 8,471,445 62,173,985 15,995,827
2004-05 593,057,402 504,590,432 38,779,339 5 308,710,997 5 48,585,886 5 (4) 108,514,210 5 9,130,839 63,545,616 15,790,514
2005-06 604,122,191 513,621,522 39,107,398 5 313,069,752 5 50,676,800 5 (4) 110,767,573 5 8,480,368 65,613,742 16,406,559
                               
2006-07 626,712,622 531,533,692 40,369,734 5 324,036,919 5 52,203,030 5 (4) 114,924,009 5 8,699,874 70,077,714 16,401,342
2007-08 642,070,920 544,865,459 41,065,948 5 331,335,233 5 53,061,444 5 (4) 119,402,834 5 8,930,224 71,403,674 16,871,564
2008-096 647,023,813 550,124,740 41,144,981 5 335,080,774 5 53,599,051 5 (4) 120,299,934 5 8,972,706 69,852,237 18,074,130
2009-10 637,578,480 551,756,426 40,932,632 5 338,016,297 5 52,426,536 5 (4) 120,380,962 5 8,827,832 58,431,678 18,562,544
  Percentage distribution
1919-20 100.0 83.1 3.5   61.0   11.2   2.9 0.9 3.5   0.3 14.8 1.8
1929-30 100.0 79.6 3.4   56.9   9.3   3.4 2.2 4.4   0.4 16.0 4.0
1939-40 100.0 82.8 3.9   59.9   8.3   3.1 2.1 5.5   0.6 11.0 5.6
1949-50 100.0 80.3 3.8   53.3   7.3   3.7 4.5 7.7   0.6 17.4 1.7
1959-60 100.0 79.0 3.4   53.5   6.9   2.7 5.8 6.6   0.8 17.0 3.1
                               
1969-70 100.0 84.1 3.9   57.2   6.2   2.4 8.0 6.3   1.6 11.5 2.9
1979-80 100.0 90.6 4.4   55.5   10.2   (4) 12.3 8.3   0.6 6.8 2.0
1989-90 100.0 88.5 7.7 5 53.4 5 9.5   (4) 17.9 5 1.4 8.4 1.8
1999-2000 100.0 84.8 6.6 5 52.4 5 8.2   (4) 17.7 5 1.4 11.4 2.4
2000-01 100.0 84.8 6.5 5 52.2 5 8.3   (4) 17.8 5 1.5 11.3 2.5
                               
2001-02 100.0 84.6 6.5 5 52.1 5 8.0   (4) 18.0 5 1.5 11.5 2.4
2002-03 100.0 85.2 6.5 5 52.3 5 8.1   (4) 18.3 5 1.5 10.8 2.5
2003-04 100.0 85.1 6.5 5 52.2 5 8.2   (4) 18.2 5 1.5 10.7 2.8
2004-05 100.0 85.1 6.5 5 52.1 5 8.2   (4) 18.3 5 1.5 10.7 2.7
2005-06 100.0 85.0 6.5 5 51.8 5 8.4   (4) 18.3 5 1.4 10.9 2.7
                               
2006-07 100.0 84.8 6.4 5 51.7 5 8.3   (4) 18.3 5 1.4 11.2 2.6
2007-08 100.0 84.9 6.4 5 51.6 5 8.3   (4) 18.6 5 1.4 11.1 2.6
2008-096 100.0 85.0 6.4 5 51.8 5 8.3   (4) 18.6 5 1.4 10.8 2.8
2009-10 100.0 86.5 6.4 5 53.0 5 8.2   (4) 18.9 5 1.4 9.2 2.9
—Not available.
1 Prior to 1959-60, items included under "other school services" were listed under "auxiliary services," a more comprehensive classification that also included community services.
2 Includes expenditures for summer schools, adult education, community colleges, and community services.
3 Prior to 1969-70, excludes capital outlay by state and local school housing authorities.
4 Plant operation also includes plant maintenance.
5 Data not comparable to figures prior to 1989-90.
6 Data have been revised from previously published figures.
NOTE: Beginning in 1959-60, includes Alaska and Hawaii. Beginning in 1989-90, state administration expenditures were excluded from both "total" and "current" expenditures. Beginning in 1989-90, extensive changes were made in the data collection procedures. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1919-20 through 1949-50; Statistics of State School Systems, 1959-60 and 1969-70; Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1979-80; and Common Core of Data (CCD), "National Public Education Financial Survey," 1989-90 through 2009-10. (This table was prepared January 2013.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest