Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2000 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 162. Summary of expenditures for public elementary and secondary education, by purpose: 1919-20 to 1997-98
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
   Purpose of expenditures    |  1919-20  |  1929-30   |  1939-40   |  1949-50   |  1959-60   |  1969-70   |     1979-80   ||      1989-90   |    1996-97\1\  |      1997-98
______________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
              1               |     2     |     3      |     4      |     5      |     6      |     7      |       8       ||         9      |        10      |        11
______________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
                              |                                              Amounts in thousands of dollars
                              |________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                              |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
Total expenditures ...........|$1,036,151 | $2,316,790 | $2,344,049 | $5,837,643 |$15,613,255 |$40,683,429 |   $95,961,561 ||   $212,769,564 |   $313,151,046 |   $334,321,587
                              |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============||================|================|================
  Current expenditures for    |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
   public elementary and      |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
    secondary education ......|   861,120 |  1,843,552 |  1,941,799 |  4,687,274 | 12,329,389 | 34,217,773 |    86,984,142 ||    188,229,359 |    270,174,298 |    285,489,511
                              |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
    Administration ...........|    36,752 |     78,680 |     91,571 |    220,050 |    528,408 |  1,606,646 |     4,263,757 ||\2\  16,346,991 |\2\  21,603,056 |\2\  22,045,143
    Instruction ..............|   632,556 |  1,317,727 |  1,403,285 |  3,112,340 |  8,350,738 | 23,270,158 |    53,257,937 ||\2\ 113,550,405 |\2\ 167,148,760 |\2\ 176,522,907
    Plant operation ..........|   115,707 |    216,072 |    194,365 |    427,587 |  1,085,036 |  2,537,257 |\3\  9,744,785 ||\2\  20,261,415 |\2\  26,837,270 |\2\  27,951,986
    Plant maintenance ........|    30,432 |     78,810 |     73,321 |    214,164 |    422,586 |    974,941 |         (\3\) ||          (\3\) |          (\3\) |          (\3\)
    Fixed charges ............|     9,286 |     50,270 |     50,116 |    261,469 |    909,323 |  3,266,920 |    11,793,934 ||            --- |            --- |            ---
    Other school services\4\ .|    36,387 |    101,993 |    129,141 |    451,663 |  1,033,297 |  2,561,856 |     7,923,729 ||\2\  38,070,548 |\2\  54,585,210 |\2\  58,969,475
                              |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============||================|================|================
  Other current expenditures  |     3,277 |      9,825 |     13,367 |     35,614 |    132,566 |    635,803 |       597,585 ||      2,982,543 |      4,649,138 |      4,884,959
                              |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
   Summer schools ............|     (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |     13,263 |    106,481 |        24,753 ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Adult education\5\ ........|     3,277 |      9,825 |     13,367 |     35,614 |     26,858 |    128,778 |           --- ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Community colleges ........|     (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |     34,492 |    138,813 |           --- ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Community services ........|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |     57,953 |    261,731 |       572,832 ||            --- |            --- |            ---
                              |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
  Capital outlay\6\ ..........|   153,543 |    370,878 |    257,974 |  1,014,176 |  2,661,786 |  4,659,072 |     6,506,167 ||     17,781,342 |     31,429,074 |     36,168,091
  Interest on school debt ....|    18,212 |     92,536 |    130,909 |    100,578 |    489,514 |  1,170,782 |     1,873,666 ||      3,776,321 |      6,898,536 |      7,779,026
                              |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
                              |                                                   Percentage distribution
                              |______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________ ________________
                              |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
  Total expenditures .........|     100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |         100.0 ||          100.0 |          100.0 |          100.0
                              |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============||================|================|================
  Current expenditures for    |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
   public elementary and      |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
    secondary education ......|      83.1 |       79.6 |       82.8 |       80.3 |       79.0 |       84.1 |          90.6 ||           88.5 |           86.3 |           85.4
                              |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
    Administration ...........|       3.5 |        3.4 |        3.9 |        3.8 |        3.4 |        3.9 |           4.4 ||\2\         7.7 |\2\         6.9 |\2\         6.6
    Instruction ..............|      61.0 |       56.9 |       59.9 |       53.3 |       53.5 |       57.2 |          55.5 ||\2\        53.4 |\2\        53.4 |\2\        52.8
    Plant operation ..........|      11.2 |        9.3 |        8.3 |        7.3 |        6.9 |        6.2 |\3\       10.2 ||\2\         9.5 |\2\         8.6 |\2\         8.4
    Plant maintenance ........|       2.9 |        3.4 |        3.1 |        3.7 |        2.7 |        2.4 |         (\3\) ||          (\3\) |          (\3\) |          (\3\)
    Fixed charges ............|       0.9 |        2.2 |        2.1 |        4.5 |        5.8 |        8.0 |          12.3 ||            --- |            --- |            ---
    Other school services\4\ .|       3.5 |        4.4 |        5.5 |        7.7 |        6.6 |        6.3 |           8.3 ||           17.9 |           17.4 |           17.6
                              |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============||================|================|================
  Other current expenditures  |       0.3 |        0.4 |        0.6 |        0.6 |        0.8 |        1.6 |           0.6 ||            1.4 |            1.5 |            1.5
                              |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________
   Summer schools ............|     (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |        0.1 |        0.3 |         (\7\) ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Adult education\5\ ........|       0.3 |        0.4 |        0.6 |        0.6 |        0.2 |        0.3 |           --- ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Community colleges ........|     (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |      (\5\) |        0.2 |        0.3 |           --- ||            --- |            --- |            ---
   Community services ........|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |        0.4 |        0.6 |           0.6 ||            --- |            --- |            ---
                              |           |            |            |            |            |            |               ||                |                |
Capital outlay\6\ ............|      14.8 |       16.0 |       11.0 |       17.4 |       17.0 |       11.5 |           6.8 ||            8.4 |           10.0 |           10.8
Interest on school debt ......|       1.8 |        4.0 |        5.6 |        1.7 |        3.1 |        2.9 |           2.0 ||            1.8 |            2.2 |            2.3
______________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________||________________|________________|________________

---Not Available.
\1\Revised from previously published data.
\2\Data not comparable to figures prior to 1989-90.
\3\Plant operation also includes plant maintenance.
\4\Prior to 1959-60, items included under "other school services" were listed under "auxiliary services," a more comprehensive classification that also included community services.
\5\Prior to 1959-60, data shown for adult education represent combined expenditures for adult education, summer schools, and community colleges.
\6\Prior to 1969-70, excludes capital outlay by state and local school housing authorities.
\7\Less than 0.05 percent.

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 due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems; and Common Core of Data surveys. (This table was prepared May 2000.)


2000 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest