Skip Navigation

Selected Findings: Fiscal Year 2011

  • In FY 11, school districts reported $607.3 billion in total revenues (table 1). The federal government contributed $74.9 billion or 12.3 percent of all revenues, state governments accounted for $267.8 billion or 44.1 percent of all revenues, and local governments provided $264.6 billion or 43.6 percent of all revenues (percentages derived from table 1 and presented in figure 1).
  • The national median total current revenues per pupil were $12,054 in FY 11 (table 2). In FY 11, five percent of regular school districts in the United States had current revenues per pupil of $8,416 or less, while five percent had current revenues per pupil of $23,997 or more.
  • Adjusting for inflation, the median total current revenues per pupil of $12,054 represents a decrease of 0.10 percent as compared to FY 10 (table 3). For regular school districts, the national median current expenditures per pupil was $10,039 in FY 11, a decrease of 1.5 percent from FY 10 (table 3 and figure 2). States with the highest median current expenditures per pupil in FY 11 included Alaska ($25,132), District of Columbia ($18,475), New York ($18,133), Wyoming ($16,744), and Connecticut ($15,056) (table 3 and figure 3).
  • In FY 11, current expenditures per pupil in the 100 largest public school districts ranged from a low of $5,361 in Alpine School District, Utah to a high of $19,770 in New York City School District, New York (table 4). Expenditures per pupil were next highest in Boston City Schools, Massachusetts ($19,181); Baltimore City Schools, Maryland ($15,483); Montgomery County Schools, Maryland ($15,421); Howard County Schools, Maryland ($15,139); Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia ($14,483); Anchorage School District, Alaska ($14,439); Milwaukee City School District, Wisconsin ($14,244) and Columbus City Schools, Ohio ($14,213) (table 4).
  • In FY 11, school districts reported $520.6 billion in current expenditures for all educational functions, which included $341.1 billion or 65.5 percent for instruction and instruction-related expenditures, $158.2 billion or 30.4 percent for support services, and $21.2 billion or 4.1 percent for all other functions (percentages derived from table 5).
  • Current expenditures per pupil for public elementary and secondary regular school districts were $10,326 on a national level in FY 11, which included $6,237 per pupil for salaries and wages and $2,256 per pupil for employee benefits (table 6).
  • A total of 22 states reported finance data for both independent charter school districts and regular noncharter school districts in FY 11. Median current expenditures per pupil for independent charter school districts were at least 10 percent lower than median current expenditures per pupil for regular noncharter school districts in 10 out of those 22 states. Median current expenditures per pupil for independent charter school districts were at least 10 percent higher than median current expenditures per pupil for regular noncharter school districts in 2 out of those 22 states (table 7 and table C-1 in appendix C).
  • In FY 11 LEAs received $74.9 billion from the federal government for public elementary and secondary education, which represents a decrease of 2.4 percent from 76.8 billion received in FY 10, after adjusting for inflation3 (table 8) (FY10 data presented in Cornman 2013)

3 FY 10 data were adjusted to FY 11 by utilizing the Consumer Price Index provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and adjusted to a school year basis (July through June). See Digest of Education Statistics, Advance Release of Selected 2012 Tables, Table 34, (table 8) (FY 10 data presented in Cornman 2013). http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_034.asp downloaded May 29, 2013. For example, FY 10 federal revenue received by LEAs was adjusted by multiplying $75,265,747,000 by 1.02007982097954 = $76,777,069,726 (Cornman 2013, table 9).