• Revenues for Public Elementary and Secondary Education
• Current Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education
• Current Expenditures per Student
• Total Expenditures
• Reference

These and other financial data on public elementary and secondary education are collected and reported each year by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education. The data are part of the "National Public Education Financial Survey" (NPEFS), one of the components of the Common Core of Data (CCD) collection of surveys.

Over $347 billion were collected for public elementary and secondary education for school year 1998–99 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 1). Total revenues ranged from a high of around $40 billion in California, which serves about 1 out of every 8 students in the nation, to a low of about $709 million in North Dakota, which serves about 1 out of every 405 students in the nation. Nationally, revenues increased an average of 6.6 percent over previous year's revenues of $326 billion (in unadjusted dollars).^*

By far, the greatest part of education revenues came from nonfederal sources (state, intermediate, and local governments), which together provided about $323 billion, or 92.9 percent of all revenues. The federal government contribution to education revenues made up the remaining $25 billion. (These numbers do not add up to $347 billion due to rounding.) The relative contributions from these levels of government can be expressed as portions of the typical education dollar (figure 1). For school year 1998–99, local and intermediate sources made up 44 cents of every dollar in revenue; state revenues comprised 49 cents; and the remaining 7 cents came from federal sources.

Among states with more than one school district, revenues from local sources ranged from 14.0 percent (New Mexico) to 87.1 percent (New Hampshire) of total revenues (table 2). Hawaii and the District of Columbia have only one school district each and thus are not comparable to other states. Revenues from state sources also showed a wide distribution in their share of total revenues. The state revenue share of total revenues was less than 30 percent in one state—New Hampshire (8.9 percent)—and more than 70 percent in Vermont (74.4 percent) and New Mexico (72.5 percent). Federal revenues ranged from 3.7 percent in New Jersey to 14.0 percent in Mississippi. Federal revenues made up 16.5 percent of total revenues in the District of Columbia.

Current expenditures for public education in 1998-99 totaled about $303 billion (table 3). This represents a $17 billion (6.1 percent) increase over expenditures in the previous school year ($285 billion in unadjusted dollars). About $187 billion in current expenditures went for instruction. Another $103 billion were expended for a cluster of services that support instruction. Over $13 billion were spent on noninstructional services.

When expressed in terms of the typical education dollar, instructional expenditures accounted for 62 cents of the education dollar for current expenditures (figure 2). Instructional expenditures include teachers' salaries and benefits, supplies (e.g., textbooks), and purchased services. About 34 cents of the education dollar went for support services, which include operation and maintenance of buildings, school administration, transportation, and other student and school support activities (e.g., student counseling, libraries, and health services). Approximately 4 cents of every education dollar went to noninstructional activities, which include school meals and enterprise activities, such as bookstores.

Most states were closely clustered around the national average (61.7 percent) in terms of the share of current expenditures that were spent on instruction; all but three states and the District of Columbia spent more than 58.0 percent of their current expenditures on instruction (table 4). These states were Alaska, Kansas, and New Mexico. Two states spent more than two-thirds of their current expenditures on instruction. These states were New York (67.8 percent) and Maine (67.3 percent).

Figure 1.—The public education dollar: Revenues by source: School year 1998-99

Figure 2.—The public education dollar: Current expenditures by function: School year 1998-99

In 1998-99, the 50 states and the District of Columbia spent an average of $6,508 in current expenditures for every pupil in membership (table 5). This represents a 5.2 percent increase in current expenditures per student from the previous school year ($6,189 in unadjusted dollars). Three states—New Jersey ($10,145), New York ($9,344), and Connecticut ($9,318)—expended more than $9,000 per pupil. The District of Columbia, which comprises a single urban district, spent $9,650 per pupil. Only one state, Utah, had expenditures of less than $4,500 for each pupil in membership ($4,210). The median per pupil expenditure was $6,110, indicating that one-half of all states educated students at a cost of less than $6,110 per student.

On the average, for every student in 1998–99, about $4,013 was spent for instructional services, $2,213 was expended for support services, and $282 was spent for noninstructional purposes.

Total expenditures include all types of expenditures by school districts and other public elementary/secondary education agencies. Researchers generally use current expenditures instead of total expenditures, when comparing education spending between states or across time. Current expenditures exclude expenditures for capital outlay, which tend to have dramatic increases and decreases. Also, the current expenditures commonly reported are for public elementary and secondary education only. School districts also support community services, adult education, private education, and other programs. These programs and the extent to which they are funded by school districts vary greatly both across states and within states.

Total expenditures for the nation totaled nearly $356 billion in the 1998–99 school year (table 6). About $303 billion of total expenditures were current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education. An additional $32 billion went for facilities acquisition and construction, $8 billion for replacement equipment, and another $8 billion for interest payments on debt. The remaining amount ($5 billion) was spent on other programs that are not part of public elementary and secondary education.

Table 1.—Revenues for public elementary and secondary schools, by source and state: School year 1998-99

Table 2.—Percentage distribution of revenues for public elementary and secondary schools, by source and state: School year 1998-99

Table 3.—Current expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1998-99

Table 4.—Percentage distribution of current expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1998-99

Table 5.—Student membership and current expenditures per pupil in membership for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1998-99

Table 6.—Total expenditures, including interest on debt, for public elementary and secondary education and other related programs supported by public school districts: School year 1998-99