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EDUCATION INDICATOR: An International Perspective
Indicator 45: Source of Funds for Education
Tracing the path of education expenditures back to their origin uncovers the level or levels of government and the sources (private and public) that bear primary responsibility for financing a country's education system. The initial source of money for education sometimes differs from the ultimate spender. For example, though local school districts in the United States generally operate and fund the local public schools, much of the financing arrives in the form of transfers from state governments. Some of the state money, in turn, arrives in the form of transfers from the federal government. The initial sources of those transferred funds, then, are state and federal governments. Likewise, the initial source of funds spent on public schools can be either public or private. Student tuition and fees are one example of a private source of public expenditure. Funding by private firms of youth apprenticeship programs in Germany and Austria is another example. Moreover, the initial source of funds spent on private schools can be either public or private. Unlike the United States, many other industrialized countries maintain large numbers of privately operated schools that are mostly or entirely publicly funded.
Sidebar: What is "public" and "private" education?
- In the United States, most public funding for primary through secondary education originated at the regional (state) or local levels in 1992; less than 10 percent originated at the central (federal) government level. In contrast, approximately three-fourths of public expenditure on primary through secondary education in France and Italy originated at the central level.
- At the higher education level in the United States, the majority of public funding originated at the regional (state) level. In every other country reported except Canada, the former West Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland, the majority of public funding originated at the central level.
Table 45a: Distribution of public and private expenditure on primary and secondary education, by initial source of funds and country: 1992
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Percent of all expenditure Percent of public expenditure -------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Country Private sources Public sources Central Regional Local ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G-7 Canada 4.5 95.5 2.4 63.8 33.8 France 6.6 93.4 74.8 11.7 13.5 West Germany (former) 38.7 61.3 0.6 80.2 19.1 Italy 3.3 96.7 79.0 4.8 16.1 Japan 8.9 91.1 24.5 75.5 - United Kingdom 5.1 94.9 6.5 - 93.5 United States 9.1 90.9 7.6 47.9 44.5 Other Australia - - 28.9 71.0 0.1 Austria 11.1 88.9 69.4 10.4 20.2 Belgium 0.4 99.6 - 95.7 4.3 Czech Republic 10.5 89.5 68.4 - 31.6 Denmark - 100.0 28.4 11.4 60.2 Finland* - - 70.6 - 29.4 Hungary 6.7 93.3 71.8 - 28.2 Ireland 4.9 95.1 95.7 - 0.1 Netherlands - 100.0 96.4 - 3.6 New Zealand - - 100.0 - - Norway - 100.0 - - - Spain 12.2 87.8 48.3 44.6 6.3 Sweden - 100.0 - - - Switzerland 6.8 93.2 3.4 52.2 44.4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Not available or not applicable.
*Public proportion is 92.3 percent
for all levels of education.
NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 45 for details on indicator calculation for Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Community countries, Finland, the former West Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom and methodology for adjusting inflation rates.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
Table 45b: Distribution of public and private expenditure at the higher education level, by initial source of funds and country: 1992
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent of all expenditure Percent of public expenditure
------------------------------ -----------------------------------------------
Country Private sources Public sources Central Regional Local
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-7
Canada 2.6 97.4 29.4 70.6 0.0
France 8.9 91.1 91.6 4.8 3.6
West Germany (former) 0.0 100.0 16.0 83.1 0.8
Italy 29.3 70.7 99.6 - 0.6
Japan 60.3 39.7 86.0 14.0 -
United Kingdom 0.0 100.0 93.6 0.0 6.4
United States 45.5 54.5 36.2 57.9 5.9
Other
Australia 0.0 100.0 73.5 26.4 0.0
Austria 19.2 80.8 98.8 0.3 0.9
Belgium 1.0 99.0 0.0 99.6 0.4
Czech Republic 11.4 88.6 100.0 0.0 -
Denmark 1.2 98.8 87.8 1.3 10.1
Finland1 - - 91.7 0.0 8.3
Hungary 6.0 94.0 100.0 - 0.0
Ireland2 16.7 83.3 77.4 0.0 0.0
Netherlands 0.0 100.0 100.0 0.0 0.0
New Zealand - - 100.0 0.0 0.0
Norway 0.0 100.0 - - -
Spain 16.6 83.4 49.0 50.0 0.9
Sweden 0.7 99.3 - - -
Switzerland 19.8 80.2 44.5 54.7 0.7
Turkey 4.1 95.9 - - -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Not available or applicable.
1/ Public proportion is 92.3 percent for all levels of education.
2/ The other source of funds for Ireland is the European Community.
NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 45 for details on indicator calculation for Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Community countries, Finland, the former West Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom and the methodology for adjusting inflation rates.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
Figure 45a: Distribution of public education expenditure on primary and secondary education, by initial source of funds and G-7 country,1,2 1992
1/ No data available for the United Kingdom.
2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by percentage of funds raised
at the local level.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
Figure 45b: Distribution of public and private education expenditure at the higher education level, by initial source of funds and G-7 country: 1992
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Tables.
[Indicator 44]
[Matrices of Comparative on Countries' Education Systems]
