Introduction
Nearly $420 billion of revenues were raised to
fund public education for grades prekindergarten through 12 in school
year 2001-02, fiscal year 2002. Current expenditures (those excluding
construction, equipment, and debt financing) exceeded $368 billion,
a 5.8 percent increase from fiscal year 2001. About three out of every
five current expenditure dollars were spent on teachers, textbooks,
and other instructional services and supplies.
An average of $7,734 was spent on each student—an
increase of 4.9 percent from $7,376 in school year 2000-01 (in unadjusted
dollars).1
Total expenditures for public education, including
school construction, debt financing, community services, and adult
education programs, came to $435 billion.
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. These data were collected from March
to September 2003. Editing and imputations were completed in February
2004. (Definitions of terms used throughout this report, including
state and local revenues, are provided at the end of the text.)
Revenues for Public Elementary and Secondary Education
- Nearly $420 billion were collected for public
elementary and secondary education for school year 2001-02 in the
50 states and the District of Columbia (table
1). Total revenues ranged from a high of around $52 billion
in California, which serves about 1 out of every 8 students in the
nation, to a low of about $794 million in North Dakota, which serves
roughly 1 out of every 449 students in the nation.
- Nationally, revenues increased an average of
4.7 percent over the previous year's revenues of $401 billion (in
unadjusted dollars).
- The greatest part of education revenues came
from state and local governments, which together provided nearly
$387 billion, or 92.1 percent of all revenues. (table
2)
- The federal government contribution to education
revenues made up $33 billion. The relative contributions from these
levels of government can be expressed as portions of the typical
education dollar (figure 1). Local sources for
school year 2001-02 made up 43 cents of every dollar in revenue;
state revenues comprised 49 cents; and the remaining 8 cents came
from federal sources.
- Among states with more than one school district,
revenues from local sources ranged from 13.8 percent in New Mexico
to 62.4 percent in Nevada (table 2).2 Revenues from state sources also showed a wide
distribution in their share of total revenues. The state revenue
share of total revenues was 31.5 percent in Nevada and 72.0 percent
in New Mexico. Federal revenues ranged from 4.2 percent in New Jersey
to 16.8 percent in Alaska. Federal sources contributed 10 percent
or more of the revenues in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, District of Columbia , Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
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SOURCE: Data reported by states to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "National Public Education Financial Survey," 2001?02. |
Current Expenditures for Public Elementary
and Secondary Education
- Current expenditures for public education in
2001-02 totaled approximately $368 billion (table
3). This represents a $20 billion (5.8 percent) increase over
expenditures in the previous school year ($348 billion in unadjusted
dollars). Nearly $227 billion in current expenditures went for instruction.
Another $127 billion were expended for a cluster of services that
support instruction. Another $15 billion were spent on noninstructional
services.
- Expressed in terms of the typical education dollar,
instructional expenditures accounted for approximately 61 cents
of the education dollar for current expenditures (figure 2). Instructional
expenditures include teacher 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). Just over 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 (61.5 percent) in terms of the share of current
expenditures that were spent on instruction; all but five states
and the District of Columbia spent more than 58 percent of their
current expenditures on instruction (table
4). The five states that spent less than 58% of current expenditures
on instruction were Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, and
Oklahoma. Two states spent about two-thirds of their current expenditures
on instruction. These states were Maine (66.6 percent) and New York
(68.3 percent).
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SOURCE: Data reported by states to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "National Public Education Financial Survey," 2001?02. |
Current Expenditures per Student
- In 2001-02, the 50 states and the District of Columbia spent an average of $7,734 in current expenditures for
every pupil in membership (table 5).
This represents a 4.9 percent increase in current expenditures per
student from the previous school year ($7,376 in unadjusted dollars).
- The median of the state per pupil expenditures
was $7,380, indicating that one-half of all states educated students
at a cost of less than $7,380 per student. Four states—New Jersey
($11,793), New York ($11,218), Connecticut ($10,577), and Massachusetts
($10,232)—expended more than $10,000 per pupil. The District of Columbia , which comprises a single urban district, spent $12,102
per pupil. Only one state, Utah, had expenditures of less than $5,000
for each pupil in membership ($4,900).
- On average, for every student in 2001-02, about
$4,755 was spent for instructional services. Expenditures per pupil
for instruction ranged from $3,197 in Utah to $7,660 in New York.
Support Services expenditures per pupil were highest in the District of Columbia ($5,726) and New Jersey ($4,454) and lowest in Tennessee
($1,789), Mississippi ($1,781) and Utah ($1,435). Expenditures per
pupil for noninstructional services such as food services were $322
for the nation.
Expenditures for Instruction
- Expenditures for instruction totaled more than
$226 billion for school year 2001-02 (table
6). Over $162 billion went for salaries for teachers and instructional
aides. Benefits for instructional staff made up almost $42 billion,
bringing the total for salaries and benefits for teachers and teacher
aides to $204 billion.
- Instructional supplies, including textbooks,
made up over $11 billion. (Expenditures for computers and desks
are not considered current expenditures, but are otherwise part
of replacement equipment in table 7).
Expenditures for purchased services were nearly $7 billion. These
expenditures include the costs for contract teachers (who are not
on the school district's payroll), educational television, computer-assisted
instruction, and rental equipment for instruction.
- Tuition expenditures for sending students to
out-of-state schools and nonpublic schools within the state totaled
over $3 billion.
Total Expenditures
- Total expenditures made by school districts came
to approximately $435 billion in the 2001-02 school year (table
7). About $368 billion of total expenditures were current expenditures
for public elementary and secondary education. An additional $43
billion went for facilities acquisition and construction, $7 billion
for replacement equipment, and another $10 billion for interest
payments on debt. The remaining amount ($7 billion) was spent on
other programs, such as community services and adult education,
which are not part of public elementary and secondary education.
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The National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) is an annual
state-level collection of revenue and expenditure data for public
education in grades prekindergarten through 12. It is part of the
Common Core of Data (CCD) collection of surveys of administrative
records data relating to public elementary and secondary education.
These data are for fiscal year 2002, which in most states began on
July 1, 2001 and ended on June 30, 2002. The fiscal year in Alabama
started on October 1, and in Nebraska and Texas the fiscal year started
on September 1. Revenues and expenditures are audited after the close
of the fiscal year and are then submitted to NCES by each state education
agency. Additionally, explanations for all missing and zero values
are collected from states. The data are processed and edited by NCES
and verified by staff at each state education agency (SEA). State
totals from the school district level finance data from the Bureau
of the Census, "Survey of Local Governments: School Systems" will
not agree with the data in this report due to the exclusion of some
state education programs from the Census Bureau collection and minor
differences in data definitions.
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 because current expenditures exclude expenditures for
capital outlay, which tend to have dramatic increases and decreases
from year to year. Also, the current expenditures commonly reported
are for public elementary and secondary education only. Many school
districts also support community services, adult education, private
education, and other programs, which are included in total expenditures.
These programs and the extent to which they are funded by school districts
vary greatly both across states and within states.
NCES has made adjustments for missing data. Values
that were missing and not reported elsewhere on a state's survey form
were imputed. The method used for all imputations was to (a) create
a subset of states reporting the item in question; (b) subtract the
value for that item from each state's total expenditures; (c) for
each state, compute the ratio of that item to the reduced total from
step b; (d) compute the average of these ratios; (e) multiply the
total expenditures of the state with the missing item by the average
ratio; and (f) substitute the imputed estimate for the missing item
and then recompute the subtotals and totals. Imputed data represent
less than 2 percent of the expenditures in any state for which data
were imputed.
Other adjustments were made when a single value
was reported for two or more items. NCES distributed portions of the
single state reported value to the missing item(s). In most cases,
these distribution types of adjustments did not affect total revenues
or total expenditures. For more information on these adjustments,
the reader should refer to the documentation for the National Public
Education Financial Survey: School Year 2001-02 data file.
The number of prekindergarten students was imputed
in Alabama, California, Michigan, and Tennessee. As a result, total
student counts for these states are flagged as imputed, and all expenditure
per pupil figures are flagged as imputed even if the expenditures
are exactly as reported by the state.
NCES accepts revisions to these data from state
education agencies for 1 year, and releases the revised data at the
end of this period.
For More Information
This report used information from the Common Core of Data, "National
Public Education Financial Survey: School Year 2001-02." For
more information about this E.D. Tabs or the data set, contact
Frank Johnson
National Center for Education Statistics,
1990 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006-5651;
or call 202-502-7362; fax 202-502-7475;
or e-mail frank.johnson@ed.gov.
Visit the Common Core of Data, National Public Education Financial Survey
website for downloading data files and documentation at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/stfis.asp.
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Current expenditures are those for the day-to-day operation of
schools. They include all expenditures except those associated with repaying
debts, capital outlays (e.g., purchases of land, school construction and
repair, and equipment), and programs outside the scope of preschool to
grade 12, such as adult education, community colleges, and community services.
Expenditures for items lasting more than 1 year (e.g., school buses and
computers) are not included in current expenditures.
Employee benefits for instruction are expenditures that are made
in addition to the gross salary, but are not paid directly to employees.
These include health insurance (for current and retired instructional
staff), retirement contributions, social security contributions, worker's
compensation, unemployment compensation, and other benefits such as unused
sick leave.
Facilities acquisition and construction expenditures include
expenditures for new school construction, including renovation and expansion.
They include expenditures on land, buildings, and equipment for new and
remodeled facilities.
Federal revenues include direct grants-in-aid to schools or agencies,
funds distributed through a state or intermediate agency, and revenues
in lieu of taxes to compensate a school district for nontaxable federal
institutions within a district's boundary.
Instructional expenditures are current expenditures for activities
directly associated with the interaction between teachers and students.
These include teacher salaries and benefits, supplies (e.g., textbooks),
and purchased instructional services.
Interest on debt expenditures are expenditures for interest on
long-term debt (i.e., obligations of more than 1 year).
Intermediate revenues come from sources that are not local or
state education agencies, but operate at an intermediate level between
local and state education agencies and possess independent fund-raising
capability, for example, county or municipal agencies. Intermediate revenues
are included in local revenue totals.
Local revenues include revenues from such sources as local property
and nonproperty taxes, investments, and revenues from student activities,
textbook sales, transportation and tuition fees, and food services. Intermediate
revenues are included in local revenue totals.
Noninstructional expenditures go mostly toward food service,
with some expenditures going toward enterprise operations, such as bookstores
and interscholastic athletics. NPEFS stands for the National Public Education Financial Survey, the state-level finance survey, and source of the data in this report.
Other instructional expenditures include instructional expenditures
that were not coded to a specific item, such as salaries or supplies.
Other program expenditures include expenditures for community
services, adult education, community colleges, private schools, and other
programs that are not part of public elementary and secondary education.
Purchased services for instruction include expenditures for services
provided by private businesses and nonprofit institutions. These include
computer-assisted instruction, educational television, and the professional
services of teachers who are not on the school district's payroll. Rental
equipment and service contracts for instructional equipment are also
included under purchased services.
Replacement equipment expenditures include expenditures for equipment
for schools that are not new or recently renovated. Equipment is generally
defined as items that last more than 1 year, are repaired rather than
replaced, and have a cost over a level set by the state or local education
agencies.
Salaries for instruction include the gross salaries of permanent
and temporary instructional staff (teachers, teacher aides, and substitute
teachers) on the payroll of school districts.
State revenues include both direct funds from state governments
and revenues in lieu of taxation. Revenues in lieu of taxes are paid
to compensate a school district for nontaxable state institutions or
facilities within the district's boundary.
Student membership is the count of students enrolled on or about
October 1.
Supplies for instruction include class textbooks and other instructional
supplies.
Support services expenditures are current expenditures
for activities that support instruction. These services include operation
and maintenance of buildings, school administration, student support
services (e.g., nurses, therapists, and guidance counselors), student
transportation, instructional staff support (e.g., librarians, instructional
specialists), school district administration, business services, research,
and data processing.
Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary education
and other programs include current expenditures for public elementary
and secondary education, and expenditures for facilities acquisition
and construction, replacement equipment, other programs, and interest
on debt.
Tuition paid out-of-state includes tuition paid to school districts
outside the state, and to private schools both inside the state and outside
the state, for educating elementary and secondary school students (grades
prekindergarten through grade 12). Special needs children who cannot
receive the education and services they require within their school district
are sometimes sent to private schools.
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Footnotes
1Comparisons
are based on the previous edition of this report, Revenues and Expenditures
for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2000–01 (NCES 2003–362).
2Hawaii
and the District of Columbia have only one school district each and
thus are not comparable to other states.
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