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Statistics in Brief

March 1995

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Revenues and Expenditures for Public
Elementary and Secondary Education:
School Year 1992-93


Every year local, state and federal governments provide the resources that support public education for students in prekindergarten through the 12th grade. What were the sources of these revenues in the 1992-93 school year? How were these dollars expended across instruction, student support, and other services?

The information to answer these and other questions is reported in the ' "National Public Education Financial Survey Fiscal Year 1993," one of the components of the Common Core of Data surveys.

What were the amounts and sources of revenue for public elementary secondary education?

More than $248 billion were collected for public elementary secondary education in 1992 93 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 1). Revenues ranged from a high of almost $28 billion in California, which serves about one out of every eight students in the nation, to a low of about $551 million in North Dakota.

By far, the greatest part of education revenues came from local and state governments, which together provided about $225 billion or 91 percent of all revenues. (Definitions for each item are provided at the end of the text.) Considerably smaller amounts of revenues came from intermediate sources which provided about $6 billion of the revenues for public education. The federal government was the source of some $17 billion of revenues.

The relative contributions from these levels of government can be expressed as portions of the typical education dollar (figure 1). Local sources furnished about 45 cents of every dollar in revenue; state revenues 46 cents; and the remaining 9 cents came from intermediate and federal sources.

How were public education funds spent?

Current expenditures for public education in 1992 93 totalled over $221 billion (table 2). This represents a $10 billion (5 percent) increase over expenditures in the previous fiscal year. The greatest expenditures were in California, which spent $24.2 billion. The smallest expenditures were the $509 million in North Dakota.

About $135 billion in current expenditures were for instruction. Another $76 billion were expended for a cluster of services that directly supported instruction. Approximately $10 billion of the 1992 93 expenditures were for noninstructional services.

Instructional expenditures accounted for about 61 cents out of the education dollar (figure 2). Support services made up another 34 cents, and about 5 cents went to noninstructional activities. Six states spent greater than 65 percent of their current expenditures on instruction. These were New York (67.2 percent), Rhode Island (67.0 percent), Maine (66.3 percent), Utah (66.1 percent), New Hampshire (65.2 percent) and Vermont (65.1 percent). Two states spent less than 55 percent of their current expenditures on instruction. These were the District of Columbia (50.6 percent) and Alaska (51.2 percent) (table 3).

What were the expenditures per student?

In 1992-93, the 50 states and District of Columbia spent an average of $5,170 for every pupil in membership at the beginning of the school year (table 4). Five states expended more than $7,000 per pupil. These were New Jersey ($8,770), the District of Columbia, which comprises a single urban district ($8,286), Alaska ($7,901), New York ($7,770) and Connecticut ($7,652). Three states had expenditures of less than $3,500 for each pupil in membership: Utah ($2,967), Mississippi ($3,159) and Idaho ($3,471). Note that the states that had the highest and lowest current expenditures for education fell into the middle range in per pupil expenditures (California at $4,614 and North Dakota at $4,284).

On the average, for every student about $3,155 was spent for instructional services, $1,781 for support services and $235 for noninstructional purposes.

Technical Notes

The "National Public Education Financial Survey" (NPEFS) is an annual state-level collection of revenues and expenditures for public education of grades prekindergarten through 12. Revenues and expenditures are audited after the close of the fiscal year and are then submitted to NCES by each state education agency. Information to explain all missing and zero values is also collected. The data are processed and edited by NCES and verified by each state education agency.

NCES has made adjustments for missing data. Values that were missing and not reported elsewhere in the submission, or in combination with one or more other items, were imputed. The method used for imputation 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 revenues (or expenditures); (c) compute the ratio of that item to the reduced total (item b) for each state; (d) compute the average of these ratios; (e) multiply the total revenues (or expenditures) of the state with the missing item by the average ratio; (f) substitute the imputed estimate for the missing item and then recompute the subtotals and totals. Revenues and expenditures for food services or student activities were imputed for Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia.

Other adjustments were made to reported data by distributing portions of a single value reported for two or more items to the missing items. These adjustments resulted in distributions that were different than those reported initially by the state education agencies, but the adjustments did not change total revenues or total expenditures. The reader should refer to the database documentation for an in-depth description of all adjustments made by NCES.

This report used information from the "National Public Education Financial Survey Fiscal Year 1993" and the "1992 Common Core of Data State Nonfiscal Survey." For further information about this Statistics in Brief or the complete fiscal data set, contact CCD staff.

Definitions

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. land, school construction and repair, and equipment), and programs outside the regular preschool-grade 12 scope such as adult education, community colleges, and community services. Expenditures for items lasting more than one year (such as school buses and computers) are not included in current expenditures.

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.

Instruction expenditures are current expenditures for activities directly associated with the interaction between teachers and students. These include teacher salaries and benefits, supplies (such as textbooks) and purchased instructional services.

Intermediate revenues come from sources that are not local or state education agencies (for example, New York State's Board of Cooperative Education Services).

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 service revenues.

Noninstruction expenditures go for food service and enterprise operations such as bookstores and interscholastic athletics.

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.

Support services expenditures are current expenditures for activities which support instruction. These services include operation and maintenance of buildings, school administration, student support services (e.g., attendance and guidance counselors), student transportation, instructional staff support (librarians, instructional specialists), school district administration, school administration business services, research, testing, and data processing.



Figure 1.-The public education dollar: Revenues from various sources: School year 1992-93

Figure 1

Source: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Finance Survey - Fiscal year 1993"

Figure 2.- The public education dollar: Expenditures by function: School year 1992-93

Figure 2

Source:U.S.Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Finance Survey - Fiscal year 1993"




Table 1.--Revenues for public elementary and secondary schools, by source and state: School year 1992-93

[In thousands of dollars]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                         Revenues, by source
                             --------------------------------------------------------------------------
   State                        Total            Local       Intermediate       State          Federal
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States a/            $248,496,276    $111,755,731      $6,076,202    $113,396,992     $17,267,351
Alabama                        2,982,753         902,867               0       1,732,506         347,381
Alaska                         1,182,527         241,479               0         767,809         173,239
Arizona                        3,402,888       1,500,357         190,761       1,411,844         299,926
Arkansas                       1,933,846         640,946           3,620       1,104,347         184,934
California                    28,039,018       8,343,535               0      17,439,021       2,256,461
Colorado                       3,337,266       1,767,835           1,829       1,403,076         164,527
Connecticut a/                 3,971,766       2,289,912               0       1,544,471         137,383
Delaware a/                      631,885         170,472               0         417,965          43,448
District of Columbia             722,230         647,269               0               0          74,961
Florida                       11,369,988       4,911,491               0       5,511,186         947,311
Georgia                        5,997,559       2,514,257               0       3,019,826         463,476
Hawaii                         1,067,810          23,917               0         962,375          81,518
Idaho                            896,846         273,061               0         548,181          75,605
Illinois                      10,575,035       6,813,500               0       3,013,710         747,825
Indiana                        5,625,542       2,388,129          10,243       2,933,242         293,928
Iowa                           2,694,532       1,248,286           2,160       1,299,696         144,390
Kansas                         2,373,507         926,078         138,698       1,178,800         129,930
Kentucky                       3,071,172         703,266               0       2,058,542         309,365
Louisiana a/                   3,490,001       1,202,974               0       1,876,960         410,067
Maine                          1,337,730         576,859               0         678,159          82,713
Maryland                       4,923,313       2,717,845               0       1,940,701         264,767
Massachusetts                  5,881,335       3,624,370               0       1,925,405         331,561
Michigan                      10,766,136       6,802,641           3,286       3,295,411         664,798
Minnesota                      4,698,237       2,058,844         152,430       2,261,916         225,048
Mississippi                    1,773,823         517,635             875         951,723         303,590
Missouri                       4,260,954       2,333,385          21,223       1,632,185         274,161
Montana                          845,249         233,922          78,853         454,922          77,552
Nebraska                       1,597,612         955,344          12,267         529,662         100,340
Nevada                         1,176,376         718,816               0         402,727          54,833
New Hampshire                  1,062,532         945,398               0          84,340          32,794
New Jersey                    10,994,535       5,979,048               0       4,553,681         461,806
New Mexico                     1,429,383         196,947               0       1,052,830         179,606
New York                      22,574,304      12,282,974          90,042       8,848,907       1,352,381
North Carolina a/              5,356,917       1,534,856               0       3,388,467         433,593
North Dakota                     551,527         240,299           7,681         237,908          65,639
Ohio                          10,993,728       6,169,319          11,864       4,178,051         634,495
Oklahoma a/                    2,770,975         856,273          54,252       1,663,413         197,037
Oregon                         3,135,734       1,709,134          46,023       1,183,893         196,684
Pennsylvania                  12,060,334       6,493,983           3,368       4,826,383         736,599
Rhode Island                     968,667         517,934               0         392,841          57,892
South Carolina                 3,061,004       1,335,179               0       1,439,690         286,136
South Dakota                     603,085         361,405           7,671         164,040          69,969
Tennessee                      3,394,425       1,496,726               0       1,546,611         351,089
Texas                         17,446,887       3,965,188       5,192,507       6,983,217       1,305,976
Utah                           1,657,433         578,368               0         961,278         117,788
Vermont                          637,740         404,554               0         198,114          35,072
Virginia a/                    5,867,838       3,616,584               0       1,886,029         365,225
Washington                     5,499,862       1,272,273               4       3,920,527         307,058
West Virginia                  1,841,575         464,990             187       1,234,018         142,379
Wisconsin                      5,346,988       3,061,619               0       2,047,701         237,669
Wyoming                          613,864         223,391          46,358         308,687          35,428
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Outlying Areas
American Samoa                    35,031             187              77           9,810          24,957
Guam                             210,480         190,321               0               0          20,160
Northern Marianas                 41,015             154               0          29,285          11,576
Puerto Rico                    1,433,524           1,948               0         946,249         485,326
Virgin Islands                   143,438         115,527               0               0          27,912
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/ Local revenues for these states contain amounts imputed for one or two items making up local revenues. These amounts made up less than 3 percent of local revenues in any one state.

NOTE: Details may not add to total due to rounding. National figures do not include outlying areas.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Financial Survey."



Table 2.--Current expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1992-93

[In thousands of dollars]
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                        Current expenditures, by function
                                              ---------------------------------------------------
   State                          Total         Instruction    Support services    Noninstruction
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States a/              $221,352,533     $135,067,681       $76,235,942       $10,048,910
Alabama                          2,610,514        1,623,693           773,464           213,357
Alaska                             967,765          495,869           441,461            30,435
Arizona                          2,753,510        1,608,841           989,933           154,737
Arkansas                         1,703,604        1,069,660           519,528           114,416
California                      24,219,792       14,515,129         8,693,446         1,011,217
Colorado                         2,919,916        1,791,024         1,022,879           106,014
Connecticut a/                   3,737,765        2,368,773         1,220,892           148,100
Delaware a/                        599,893          375,684           202,360            21,849
District of Columbia               670,654          339,266           302,282            29,107
Florida                          9,661,012        5,609,755         3,566,770           484,487
Georgia                          5,273,143        3,324,731         1,630,162           318,250
Hawaii                             946,074          580,597           304,362            61,115
Idaho                              804,231          504,461           260,672            39,097
Illinois                         9,942,737        5,886,997         3,695,575           360,165
Indiana                          4,797,946        2,984,096         1,598,786           215,063
Iowa                             2,459,141        1,529,933           820,898           108,310
Kansas                           2,224,080        1,304,668           816,085           103,327
Kentucky                         2,823,993        1,713,290           968,533           142,170
Louisiana a/                     3,199,842        1,906,733         1,007,563           285,546
Maine                            1,217,418          806,903           366,084            44,431
Maryland                         4,556,233        2,822,084         1,522,110           212,040
Massachusetts                    5,281,067        3,239,997         1,868,806           172,264
Michigan                         9,532,994        5,535,516         3,722,486           274,991
Minnesota                        4,135,284        2,646,040         1,323,114           166,129
Mississippi                      1,600,752          997,074           472,867           130,811
Missouri                         3,710,426        2,253,749         1,292,890           163,786
Montana                            785,159          487,327           265,132            32,700
Nebraska                         1,430,039          885,855           422,808           121,376
Nevada                           1,035,623          612,677           388,280            34,667
New Hampshire                      972,963          634,198           306,599            32,166
New Jersey                       9,915,429        5,847,981         3,800,586           266,862
New Mexico                       1,240,310          727,371           451,556            61,384
New York                        20,898,267       14,035,286         6,254,766           608,215
North Carolina a/                4,930,704        3,037,814         1,509,934           382,956
North Dakota                       508,648          312,211           155,299            41,138
Ohio                             9,572,879        5,471,610         3,747,551           353,718
Oklahoma a/                      2,442,320        1,440,157           787,220           214,943
Oregon                           2,849,009        1,701,141         1,053,453            94,416
Pennsylvania                    10,944,392        6,956,917         3,577,579           409,896
Rhode Island                       934,815          626,154           287,742            20,919
South Carolina                   2,690,009        1,594,927           857,238           237,844
South Dakota                       553,005          339,207           182,691            31,107
Tennessee                        3,139,223        1,907,725         1,071,617           159,881
Texas                           15,121,655        8,890,632         5,248,579           982,444
Utah                             1,376,319          910,053           380,212            86,054
Vermont                            625,064          406,682           199,569            18,813
Virginia a/                      5,228,196        3,121,272         1,837,789           269,135
Washington                       4,679,873        2,800,395         1,665,971           213,507
West Virginia                    1,626,005        1,007,685           523,330            94,990
Wisconsin                        4,954,900        3,143,002         1,662,810           149,088
Wyoming                            547,938          334,840           193,622            19,476
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Outlying Areas
American Samoa                      23,636           10,792             8,916             3,929
Guam                               161,477           69,877            76,036            10,007
Northern Marianas                   38,784           28,814             6,777             3,193
Puerto Rico                      1,295,452          895,535           253,659           146,258
Virgin Islands                     120,510           68,564            45,905             6,040
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/ Noninstruction expenditures for these states contain amounts imputed for one or two items contained in noninstruction expenditures. These amounts made up less than 42 percent of noninstruction expenditures in any one of these states.

NOTE: Details may not add to total due to rounding. National figures do not include outlying areas.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Financial Survey."



Table 3.--Percentage distribution of current expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1992-93

________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                           Within-state percentage distribution
                             -------------------------------------------------------------
   State                          Instruction          Support services         Noninstruction
________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States a/                      61.0                   34.4                    4.5
Alabama                               62.2                   29.6                    8.2
Alaska                                51.2                   45.6                    3.1
Arizona                               58.4                   36.0                    5.6
Arkansas                              62.8                   30.5                    6.7
California                            59.9                   35.9                    4.2
Colorado                              61.3                   35.0                    3.6
Connecticut a/                        63.4                   32.7                    4.0
Delaware a/                           62.6                   33.7                    3.6
District of Columbia                  50.6                   45.1                    4.3
Florida                               58.1                   36.9                    5.0
Georgia                               63.1                   30.9                    6.0
Hawaii                                61.4                   32.2                    6.5
Idaho                                 62.7                   32.4                    4.9
Illinois                              59.2                   37.2                    3.6
Indiana                               62.2                   33.3                    4.5
Iowa                                  62.2                   33.4                    4.4
Kansas                                58.7                   36.7                    4.6
Kentucky                              60.7                   34.3                    5.0
Louisiana a/                          59.6                   31.5                    8.9
Maine                                 66.3                   30.1                    3.6
Maryland                              61.9                   33.4                    4.7
Massachusetts                         61.4                   35.4                    3.3
Michigan                              58.1                   39.0                    2.9
Minnesota                             64.0                   32.0                    4.0
Mississippi                           62.3                   29.5                    8.2
Missouri                              60.7                   34.8                    4.4
Montana                               62.1                   33.8                    4.2
Nebraska                              61.9                   29.6                    8.5
Nevada                                59.2                   37.5                    3.3
New Hampshire                         65.2                   31.5                    3.3
New Jersey                            59.0                   38.3                    2.7
New Mexico                            58.6                   36.4                    4.9
New York                              67.2                   29.9                    2.9
North Carolina a/                     61.6                   30.6                    7.8
North Dakota                          61.4                   30.5                    8.1
Ohio                                  57.2                   39.1                    3.7
Oklahoma a/                           59.0                   32.2                    8.8
Oregon                                59.7                   37.0                    3.3
Pennsylvania                          63.6                   32.7                    3.7
Rhode Island                          67.0                   30.8                    2.2
South Carolina                        59.3                   31.9                    8.8
South Dakota                          61.3                   33.0                    5.6
Tennessee                             60.8                   34.1                    5.1
Texas                                 58.8                   34.7                    6.5
Utah                                  66.1                   27.6                    6.3
Vermont                               65.1                   31.9                    3.0
Virginia a/                           59.7                   35.2                    5.1
Washington                            59.8                   35.6                    4.6
West Virginia                         62.0                   32.2                    5.8
Wisconsin                             63.4                   33.6                    3.0
Wyoming                               61.1                   35.3                    3.6
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - - - -
  Outlying Areas
American Samoa                        45.7                   37.7                   16.6
Guam                                  43.3                   47.1                    6.2
Northern Marianas                     74.3                   17.5                    8.2
Puerto Rico                           69.1                   19.6                   11.3
Virgin Islands                        56.9                   38.1                    5.0
________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/ Noninstruction expenditures for these states contain amounts imputed for detail (not reported here) affecting noninstruction and total current expenditures.

NOTE: National figures do not include outlying areas.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Financial Survey."



Table 4.--Student membership and current expenditures per pupil in membership for public elementary and secondary schools, by function and state: School year 1992-93

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                   Current expenditures per pupil in membership
                          Fall 1992        ---------------------------------------------------------
                           student                                           Support
   State                 membership           Total      Instruction        services       Noninstru
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States a/         42,815,541           5,170          3,155            1,781             235
Alabama                     730,857           3,572          2,222            1,058             292
Alaska                      122,487           7,901          4,048            3,604             248
Arizona                     673,477           4,088          2,389            1,470             230
Arkansas                    441,490           3,859          2,423            1,177             259
California                5,249,275           4,614          2,765            1,656             193
Colorado                    612,635           4,766          2,923            1,670             173
Connecticut a/              488,476           7,652          4,849            2,499             303
Delaware a/                 104,321           5,750          3,601            1,940             209
District of Columbia         80,937           8,286          4,192            3,735             360
Florida                   1,981,407           4,876          2,831            1,800             245
Georgia                   1,207,186           4,368          2,754            1,350             264
Hawaii                      177,448           5,332          3,272            1,715             344
Idaho                       231,668           3,471          2,178            1,125             169
Illinois                  1,873,567           5,307          3,142            1,972             192
Indiana                     960,630           4,995          3,106            1,664             224
Iowa                        494,839           4,970          3,092            1,659             219
Kansas                      451,536           4,926          2,889            1,807             229
Kentucky                    655,041           4,311          2,616            1,479             217
Louisiana a/                797,985           4,010          2,389            1,263             358
Maine                       216,453           5,624          3,728            1,691             205
Maryland                    751,850           6,060          3,754            2,024             282
Massachusetts               859,948           6,141          3,768            2,173             200
Michigan                  1,603,610           5,945          3,452            2,321             171
Minnesota                   793,724           5,210          3,334            1,667             209
Mississippi                 506,668           3,159          1,968              933             258
Missouri                    859,357           4,318          2,623            1,504             191
Montana                     160,011           4,907          3,046            1,657             204
Nebraska                    282,414           5,064          3,137            1,497             430
Nevada                      222,974           4,645          2,748            1,741             155
New Hampshire               181,247           5,368          3,499            1,692             177
New Jersey                1,130,560           8,770          5,173            3,362             236
New Mexico                  315,668           3,929          2,304            1,430             194
New York                  2,689,686           7,770          5,218            2,325             226
North Carolina a/         1,114,083           4,426          2,727            1,355             344
North Dakota                118,734           4,284          2,630            1,308             346
Ohio                      1,795,199           5,332          3,048            2,088             197
Oklahoma a/                 597,096           4,090          2,412            1,318             360
Oregon                      510,122           5,585          3,335            2,065             185
Pennsylvania              1,717,613           6,372          4,050            2,083             239
Rhode Island                143,798           6,501          4,354            2,001             145
South Carolina              639,942           4,204          2,492            1,340             372
South Dakota                134,573           4,109          2,521            1,358             231
Tennessee                   854,329           3,674          2,233            1,254             187
Texas                     3,541,769           4,270          2,510            1,482             277
Utah                        463,870           2,967          1,962              820             186
Vermont                      98,558           6,342          4,126            2,025             191
Virginia a/               1,031,925           5,066          3,025            1,781             261
Washington                  896,475           5,220          3,124            1,858             238
West Virginia               318,296           5,108          3,166            1,644             298
Wisconsin                   829,415           5,974          3,789            2,005             180
Wyoming                     100,313           5,462          3,338            1,930             194
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Outlying Areas
American Samoa               13,994           1,689            771              637             281
Guam                         30,077           5,369          2,323            2,528             333
Northern Marianas             8,086           4,796          3,563              838             395
Puerto Rico                 637,034           2,034          1,406              398             230
Virgin Islands               22,887           5,265          2,996            2,006             264
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/ Noninstruction expenditures for these states contain amounts imputed for detail (not report here) affecting noninstruction and total current expenditures.

NOTE: Details may not add to total due to rounding. National figures do not include outlying are

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data "National Public Education Financial Survey."



For more information about the substantitive content of this report, contact CCD staff.


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