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Digest of Education Statistics
1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 157.Summary of expenditures for public elementary and secondary education, by purpose: 1919-20 to 1992-93

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      Purpose of expenditures      |  1919-20  |  1929-30   |  1939-40   |  1949-50   |  1959-60   |  1969-70   |     1979-80   | 1989-90\1\  | 1991-92\1\  |   1992-93
___________________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                 1                 |     2     |     3      |     4      |     5      |     6      |     7      |       8       |      9      |     10      |     11
___________________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                                   |                                              Amounts in thousands of dollars                                           |
                                   |________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________|_____________
                                   |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
  Total expenditures, all schools .|$1,036,151 | $2,316,790 | $2,344,049 | $5,837,643 |$15,613,255 |$40,683,429 |   $95,961,561 |$212,473,108 |$241,062,373 |$243,859,297
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
Current expenditures, all schools .|   864,396 |  1,853,377 |  1,955,166 |  4,722,887 | 12,461,955 | 34,853,578 |    87,581,727 | 190,915,446 | 215,613,632 | 215,751,579
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
  Public elementary and secondary  |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
    schools .......................|   861,120 |  1,843,552 |  1,941,799 |  4,687,274 | 12,329,389 | 34,217,773 |    86,984,142 | 187,932,903 | 211,221,254 | 211,352,533
                                   |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
    Administration ................|    36,752 |     78,680 |     91,571 |    220,050 |    528,408 |  1,606,646 |     4,263,757 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Instruction ...................|   632,556 |  1,317,727 |  1,403,285 |  3,112,340 |  8,350,738 | 23,270,158 |    53,257,937 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Plant operation ...............|   115,707 |    216,072 |    194,365 |    427,587 |  1,085,036 |  2,537,257 |\2\  9,744,785 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Plant maintenance .............|    30,432 |     78,810 |     73,321 |    214,164 |    422,586 |    974,941 |         (\2\) |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Fixed charges .................|     9,286 |     50,270 |     50,116 |    261,469 |    909,323 |  3,266,920 |    11,793,934 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Other school services\3\ ......|    36,387 |    101,993 |    129,141 |    451,663 |  1,033,297 |  2,561,856 |     7,923,729 |         --- |         --- |         ---
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
  Other current expenditures       |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
   Summer schools .................|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |     13,263 |    106,481 |        24,753 |   2,982,543 |   4,392,378 |   4,399,046
   Adult education\4\ .............|     3,277 |      9,825 |     13,367 |     35,614 |     26,858 |    128,778 |           --- |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
   Community colleges .............|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |     34,492 |    138,813 |           --- |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
   Community services .............|     (\3\) |      (\3\) |      (\3\) |      (\3\) |     57,953 |    261,731 |       572,832 |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
                                   |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
Capital outlay\6\ .................|   153,543 |    370,878 |    257,974 |  1,014,176 |  2,661,786 |  4,659,072 |     6,506,167 |  17,781,342 |  20,282,891 |  22,668,507
Interest on school debt ...........|    18,212 |     92,536 |    130,909 |    100,578 |    489,514 |  1,170,782 |     1,873,666 |   3,776,321 |   5,165,850 |   5,439,211
                                   |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                                   |                                     |             Percentage distribution  |               |             |             |
                                   |_____________________________________|______________________________________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                                   |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
  Total expenditures, all schools .|     100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |      100.0 |         100.0 |       100.0 |       100.0 |       100.0
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
Current expenditures, all schools .|      83.4 |       80.0 |       83.4 |       80.9 |       79.8 |       85.7 |          91.2 |        89.9 |        89.4 |        88.5
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
  Public elementary and secondary  |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
    schools .......................|      83.1 |       79.6 |       82.8 |       80.3 |       79.0 |       84.1 |          90.6 |        88.5 |        87.6 |        86.7
                                   |___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________
    Administration ................|       3.5 |        3.4 |        3.9 |        3.8 |        3.4 |        3.9 |           4.4 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Instruction ...................|      61.0 |       56.9 |       59.9 |       53.3 |       53.5 |       57.2 |          55.5 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Plant operation ...............|      11.2 |        9.3 |        8.3 |        7.3 |        6.9 |        6.2 |\2\       10.2 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Plant maintenance .............|       2.9 |        3.4 |        3.1 |        3.7 |        2.7 |        2.4 |         (\2\) |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Fixed charges .................|       0.9 |        2.2 |        2.1 |        4.5 |        5.8 |        8.0 |          12.3 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Other school services\3\ ......|       3.5 |        4.4 |        5.5 |        7.7 |        6.6 |        6.3 |           8.3 |         --- |         --- |         ---
                                   |===========|============|============|============|============|============|===============|=============|=============|=============
  Other current expenditures       |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
   Summer schools .................|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |        0.1 |        0.3 |         (\7\) |         1.4 |         1.8 |         1.8
   Adult education\4\ .............|       0.3 |        0.4 |        0.6 |        0.6 |        0.2 |        0.3 |           --- |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
   Community colleges .............|     (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |      (\4\) |        0.2 |        0.3 |           --- |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
   Community services .............|     (\3\) |      (\3\) |      (\3\) |      (\3\) |        0.4 |        0.6 |           0.6 |       (\5\) |       (\5\) |       (\5\)
                                   |           |            |            |            |            |            |               |             |             |
Capital outlay\6\ .................|      14.8 |       16.0 |       11.0 |       17.4 |       17.0 |       11.5 |           6.8 |         8.4 |         8.4 |         9.3
Interest on school debt ...........|       1.8 |        4.0 |        5.6 |        1.7 |        3.1 |        2.9 |           2.0 |         1.8 |         2.1 |         2.2
___________________________________|___________|____________|____________|____________|____________|____________|_______________|_____________|_____________|_____________

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

NOTE.--Beginning in 1959-60, includes Alaska and Hawaii. Beginning in 1980-81, state administration expenditures were excluded from both "total" and "current" expenditures. Beginning in 1988-89, extensive changes were made in the data collection procedures. Because of rounding, details may not add to totals.

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 July 1995.)


1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest