Statistics in Brief
June 1996
Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 1993-94
Over $260 billion of revenues were raised by local, state and federal governments to fund public education for students in prekindergarten through the 12th grade in school year 1993-94. Current expenditures (those excluding construction, equipment and debt financing) came to $232 billion. Three out of every five dollars were spent on teachers, textbooks, and other instructional services and supplies. An average of $5,325 was spent on each student--an increase of 2.5 percent from 5 years ago (after adjusting for inflation.)
These and other financial data on public elementary and secondary education are collected and reported each year by the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education. The data are part of the National Public Education Financial Survey, one of the components of the Common Core of Data collection of surveys.
Revenues for public elementary-secondary education
More than $260 billion were collected for public elementary-secondary education in 1993-94 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 1). Revenues ranged from a high of $29 billion in California, which serves about one out of every eight students in the nation, to a low of about $563 million in North Dakota.
By far, the greatest part of education revenues came from state and local governments, which together provided about $242 billion or 93.0 percent of all revenues. (Definitions for each item are provided at the end of the text.) The federal government contribution to education revenues made up the remaining 7.0 percent ($18 billion.)
The relative contributions from these levels of government can be expressed as portions of the typical education dollar (figure 1). Local sources furnished about 48 cents of every dollar in revenue; state revenues 45 cents; and the remaining 7 cents came from federal sources.
Expenditures for public elementary-secondary education
Current expenditures for public education in 1993-94 totalled just under $232 billion (table 2). This represents a $10 billion (4.6 percent) increase over expenditures in the previous fiscal year (in unadjusted dollars). About $142 billion in current expenditures went for instruction. Another $79 billion were expended for a cluster of services that support instruction. Approximately $11 billion were spent on noninstruction services.
Instructional expenditures accounted for about 61 cents out of the education dollar (figure 2). These expenditures include teachers' salaries and benefits, supplies (such as textbooks) and purchased services. Another 34 cents of the education dollar went for support services, which include operation and maintenance of buildings, school administration, transportation and other student and school support activities (student counseling, libraries, health services etc.) About 5 cents of every dollar went to noninstructional activities, which include school meals and enterprise activities such as bookstores.
Most states were closely clustered around the national average in terms of the share of current expenditures that were spent on instruction; about three-fifths (31 states) spent between 59 percent and 63 percent of their current expenditures on instruction. Five states spent more than 65 percent of their current expenditures on instruction. These were New York (67.5 percent), Utah (67.1 percent), Rhode Island (66.6 percent), Maine (66.9 percent) and Vermont (65.2 percent). Two states spent less than 55 percent of their current expenditures on instruction. These were Alaska (51.6 percent) and the District of Columbia (49.2 percent) (table 3).
Expenditures per student
In 1993-94, the 50 states and District of Columbia spent an average of $5,325 for every pupil in membership (table 4). This represents a 2.5 percent increase from five years ago, after adjusting for inflation. (See last paragraph of technical notes.) Five states expended more than $7,000 per pupil. These were New Jersey ($9,075), the District of Columbia, which comprises a single urban district ($8,843), New York ($8,069), Alaska ($7,960), and Connecticut ($7,947). Five states had expenditures of less than $4,000 for each pupil in membership: Alabama, ($3,826), Tennessee ($3,813), Idaho ($3,628), Mississippi ($3,410), and Utah ($3,206). The median per pupil expenditure was $5,205. When all of the expenditures were ranked, half of the states educated students at a cost of less than $5,205 per student.
On the average, for every student about $3,257 was spent for instructional services, $1,826 for support services and $242 for noninstructional purposes.
Technical notes
The "National Public Education Financial Survey" (NPEFS) (20K) is an annual state-level collection of revenues and expenditures for public education in 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 were imputed. Values affected by these imputations are footnoted "1/." 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, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Other adjustments were made when a single value was reported for two or more items. NCES distributed portions of the single reported value reported to the missing items. In most cases these distribution types of adjustments did not affect total revenues or total expenditures. Values affected by these type of adjustments are footnoted "2/" in the tables. For more information on these adjustments, the reader should refer to the database documentation.
For more information
This report used information from the "National Public Education Financial Survey - Fiscal Year 1994" and the "1993 Common Core of Data State Nonfiscal Survey." For more information about this Statistics in Brief or the complete fiscal data set (57K), contact Frank Johnson
Glossary
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. purchases of 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, but operate at an intermediate level between local and state education agencies and possess independent fund-raising capability.
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 (93 percent) 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., nurses, therapists, and guidance counselors), student transportation, instructional staff support (librarians, instructional specialists), school district administration, business services, research, testing, and data processing.
Figure 1.--The public education dollar: Revenues by sources: SY 1993-94
(Total revenues: $260 billion)
Note: Detail may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, CCD, NPEFS
Figure 2.--The public education dollar: Current expenditures by function: SY 1993-94 (Current expenditures: $232 billion)
Note: Detail may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, CCD, NPEFS
Table 1.--Revenues for public elementary and secondary schools, by source and state: School year 1993-94
[In thousands of dollars]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Revenues, by source
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Total Local Intermediate State Federal
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States $260,142,087 1/ $123,249,060 1/ $1,094,731 $117,462,492 $18,335,803
Alabama 3,121,320 924,176 0 1,850,898 346,246
Alaska 1,159,259 243,720 0 777,478 138,061
Arizona 3,550,177 1,574,905 168,864 1,474,316 332,091
Arkansas 2,014,900 672,097 1,440 1,164,432 176,931
California 29,050,409 10,153,198 0 16,324,953 2,572,258
Colorado 3,368,596 1,714,488 1,689 1,466,584 185,835
Connecticut 4,103,218 1/ 2,286,371 1/ 0 1,653,755 163,091
Delaware 684,411 189,837 0 441,043 53,531
District of Columbia 735,722 656,289 0 0 79,433
Florida 11,927,112 5,060,862 0 5,945,110 921,140
Georgia 6,630,693 2,752,132 0 3,360,515 518,047
Hawaii 1,128,456 30,143 0 1,014,096 84,217
Idaho 955,081 297,525 0 576,967 80,589
Illinois 11,322,719 7,382,634 0 3,196,325 743,760
Indiana 5,918,601 2,476,652 45,006 3,097,205 299,738
Iowa 2,782,621 1,289,047 6,529 1,339,923 147,123
Kansas 2,695,033 840,550 147,921 1,558,260 148,303
Kentucky 3,194,404 758,915 0 2,105,658 329,830
Louisiana 3,608,436 1/ 1,256,064 1/ 0 1,912,880 439,492
Maine 1,327,946 607,983 0 641,322 78,641
Maryland 5,145,236 2,874,555 0 2,002,376 268,305
Massachusetts 6,227,191 3,767,277 0 2,125,314 334,600
Michigan 11,134,083 7,210,467 7,973 3,200,682 714,960
Minnesota 5,160,259 1,931,589 150,968 2,840,930 236,773
Mississippi 1,879,377 546,174 1,170 1,024,792 307,241
Missouri 4,526,828 2,473,998 22,187 1,733,542 297,101
Montana 877,807 257,105 84,848 451,223 84,632
Nebraska 1,674,836 1,008,668 11,561 547,921 106,686
Nevada 1,268,826 793,834 0 416,469 58,523
New Hampshire 1,097,159 972,323 0 89,552 35,284
New Jersey 11,301,907 6,331,035 99 4,564,512 406,261
New Mexico 1,562,447 219,925 0 1,153,974 188,548
New York 23,775,186 13,121,874 90,549 9,090,191 1,472,573
North Carolina 5,560,314 1/ 1,545,917 1/ 0 3,559,792 454,606
North Dakota 563,352 248,827 6,622 240,860 67,042
Ohio 10,499,236 5,537,567 12,460 4,280,781 668,428
Oklahoma 3,077,911 2/ 947,106 2/ 56,046 1,811,319 263,440
Oregon 3,074,679 1,600,701 46,088 1,215,454 212,437
Pennsylvania 12,601,361 6,797,007 4,578 5,075,591 724,185
Rhode Island 1,022,861 563,051 0 399,395 60,415
South Carolina 3,200,412 1,427,782 0 1,478,065 294,566
South Dakota 647,026 400,217 8,309 168,964 69,536
Tennessee 3,649,630 1,594,003 0 1,707,740 347,887
Texas 18,744,302 9,513,079 172,403 7,542,112 1,516,708
Utah 1,785,758 678,450 0 981,014 126,294
Vermont 703,939 447,670 0 220,614 35,655
Virginia 6,162,835 1/ 3,896,846 1/ 0 1,895,429 370,560
Washington 5,723,616 1,401,075 0 3,988,235 334,306
West Virginia 1,879,452 513,586 505 1,214,154 151,207
Wisconsin 5,661,241 3,223,098 0 2,188,298 249,844
Wyoming 673,906 236,665 46,916 351,479 38,846
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Outlying Areas
American Samoa 41,683 164 99 6,699 34,722
Guam 168,461 151,696 0 0 16,765
Northern Marianas 41,406 150 0 30,215 11,042
Puerto Rico 1,510,847 796 0 1,036,657 473,394
Virgin Islands 132,711 107,542 0 0 25,169
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1/ Value contains imputation for missing data. Imputed value is less than 2 percent of total revenues in any one state.
2/ Value affected by redistribution of reported values in order to adjust for missing data.
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 1993-94
[In thousands of dollars]
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current expenditures, by function
------------------------------------------------------
State Total Instruction Support services Noninstruction
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States 231,521,500 1/ 141,598,786 2/ 79,406,683 2/ 10,516,031 1/
Alabama 2,809,713 1,757,077 830,470 222,166
Alaska 1,002,515 517,200 454,317 30,998
Arizona 2,911,304 2/ 1,680,405 2/ 1,040,554 2/ 190,345 2/
Arkansas 1,782,645 2/ 1,116,796 544,702 121,146 2/
California 25,140,639 15,028,418 9,061,351 1,050,870
Colorado 2,954,793 1,815,426 1,028,399 110,969
Connecticut 3,943,894 1/ 2,501,019 1,253,016 189,859 1/
Delaware 643,915 2/ 399,147 217,672 27,095 2/
District of Columbia 713,427 2/ 351,028 332,951 29,448 2/
Florida 10,331,896 5,970,755 3,856,344 504,797
Georgia 5,643,843 3,473,765 1,823,252 346,826
Hawaii 998,143 615,270 322,735 60,138
Idaho 859,088 543,377 273,726 41,985
Illinois 10,076,889 6,064,603 3,670,213 342,073
Indiana 5,064,685 3,121,188 1,721,595 221,901
Iowa 2,527,434 1,558,177 855,845 113,412
Kansas 2,325,247 1,345,121 865,968 114,158
Kentucky 2,952,119 1,768,253 2/ 1,029,693 2/ 154,173
Louisiana 3,309,020 1/ 1,967,293 1,044,538 297,189 1/
Maine 1,208,411 808,608 355,651 44,152
Maryland 4,783,023 2,890,971 2/ 1,649,605 242,448 2/
Massachusetts 5,637,337 3,398,730 2,042,430 196,177
Michigan 9,816,830 5,691,574 3,839,812 285,444
Minnesota 4,328,093 2,757,594 1,395,507 174,993
Mississippi 1,725,386 1,066,080 521,331 137,975
Missouri 3,981,614 2,415,629 1,389,998 175,987
Montana 822,015 514,036 273,001 34,978
Nebraska 1,513,971 941,383 2/ 443,860 128,728 2/
Nevada 1,099,058 654,369 407,307 37,382
New Hampshire 1,007,129 646,681 2/ 324,847 2/ 35,601 2/
New Jersey 10,448,096 2/ 6,260,952 3,852,523 334,621 2/
New Mexico 1,323,459 775,050 471,933 76,475
New York 22,059,949 14,884,460 6,549,494 625,996
North Carolina 5,145,420 1/ 3,161,009 1,592,366 392,045 1/
North Dakota 522,377 320,294 157,071 45,012
Ohio 9,612,678 5,717,214 3,540,689 354,776
Oklahoma 2,659,460 1/ 1,551,744 884,472 223,244 1/
Oregon 2,852,723 1,708,679 1,047,136 96,908
Pennsylvania 11,236,417 7,144,739 3,664,768 426,910
Rhode Island 990,094 659,748 304,999 25,346
South Carolina 2,790,878 1,651,858 963,310 175,710
South Dakota 584,894 360,621 191,974 32,299
Tennessee 3,305,579 2,125,274 998,576 181,729
Texas 16,193,722 9,602,153 5,620,902 970,666
Utah 1,511,205 1,013,630 405,340 92,234
Vermont 643,828 419,909 202,607 21,312
Virginia 5,441,388 1/ 3,275,030 1,883,594 282,764 1/
Washington 4,892,690 2/ 2,921,122 2/ 1,745,781 225,788 2/
West Virginia 1,663,868 1,034,956 534,640 94,272
Wisconsin 5,170,343 3,285,249 1,730,242 154,852
Wyoming 558,353 345,120 193,577 19,655
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Outlying Areas
American Samoa 25,161 11,582 10,792 2,787
Guam 164,187 86,713 65,406 8,677
Northern Marianas 39,675 29,959 6,851 2,865
Puerto Rico 1,420,580 972,817 263,873 183,890
Virgin Islands 120,617 68,548 45,795 6,274
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1/ Value contains imputation for missing data. Imputed value is less than 2 percent of total current expenditures in any one state.
2/ Value affected by redistribution of reported values for missing data items.
NOTE: Details may not add to total due to rounding.
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 1993-94
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Within-state percentage distribution
-------------------------------------------------------------
State Instruction Support services Noninstruction
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States 61.2 2/ 34.2 2/ 4.6 1/
Alabama 62.5 29.6 7.9
Alaska 51.6 45.3 3.1
Arizona 57.7 2/ 35.7 2/ 6.5 2/
Arkansas 62.6 30.6 6.8 2/
California 59.8 36.0 4.2
Colorado 61.4 34.8 3.8
Connecticut 63.4 31.8 4.8 1/
Delaware 62.0 33.8 4.2 2/
District of Columbia 49.2 46.7 4.1 2/
Florida 57.8 37.3 4.9
Georgia 61.5 32.3 6.1
Hawaii 61.6 32.3 6.0
Idaho 63.3 31.9 4.9
Illinois 60.2 36.4 3.4
Indiana 61.6 34.0 4.4
Iowa 61.7 33.9 4.5
Kansas 57.8 37.2 4.9
Kentucky 59.9 2/ 34.9 2/ 5.2
Louisiana 59.5 31.6 9.0 1/
Maine 66.9 29.4 3.7
Maryland 60.4 2/ 34.5 5.1 2/
Massachusetts 60.3 36.2 3.5
Michigan 58.0 39.1 2.9
Minnesota 63.7 32.2 4.0
Mississippi 61.8 30.2 8.0
Missouri 60.7 34.9 4.4
Montana 62.5 33.2 4.3
Nebraska 62.2 2/ 29.3 8.5 2/
Nevada 59.5 37.1 3.4
New Hampshire 64.2 2/ 32.3 2/ 3.5 2/
New Jersey 59.9 36.9 3.2 2/
New Mexico 58.6 35.7 5.8
New York 67.5 29.7 2.8
North Carolina 61.4 30.9 7.6 1/
North Dakota 61.3 30.1 8.6
Ohio 59.5 36.8 3.7
Oklahoma 58.3 33.3 8.4 1/
Oregon 59.9 36.7 3.4
Pennsylvania 63.6 32.6 3.8
Rhode Island 66.6 30.8 2.6
South Carolina 59.2 34.5 6.3
South Dakota 61.7 32.8 5.5
Tennessee 64.3 30.2 5.5
Texas 59.3 34.7 6.0
Utah 67.1 26.8 6.1
Vermont 65.2 31.5 3.3
Virginia 60.2 34.6 5.2 1/
Washington 59.7 2/ 35.7 4.6 2/
West Virginia 62.2 32.1 5.7
Wisconsin 63.5 33.5 3.0
Wyoming 61.8 34.7 3.5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Outlying Areas
American Samoa 46.0 42.9 11.1
Guam 54.9 39.8 5.3
Northern Marianas 75.5 17.3 7.2
Puerto Rico 68.5 18.6 12.9
Virgin Islands 56.8 38.0 5.2
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1/ Percent based on data containing imputation for missing data.
2/ Percent based on data affected by redistribution of reported values for missing data items.
NOTE: Detail may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
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 1993-94
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current expenditures per pupil in membership
Fall 1993 -------------------------------------------------------------
student Support
State membership Total Instruction services Noninstruction
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
United States 43,476,268 3/ 5,325 1/ 3,257 2/ 1,826 2/ 242 1/
Alabama 734,469 3/ 3,826 2,392 1,131 302
Alaska 125,948 7,960 4,106 3,607 246
Arizona 709,453 4,104 2/ 2,369 2/ 1,467 2/ 268 2/
Arkansas 444,271 4,013 2/ 2,514 1,226 273 2/
California 5,328,558 3/ 4,718 2,820 1,701 197
Colorado 625,062 4,727 2,904 1,645 178
Connecticut 496,298 7,947 1/ 5,039 2,525 383 1/
Delaware 105,547 6,101 2/ 3,782 2,062 257 2/
District of Columbia 80,678 8,843 2/ 4,351 4,127 365 2/
Florida 2,040,763 5,063 2,926 1,890 247
Georgia 1,235,304 4,569 2,812 1,476 281
Hawaii 180,430 5,532 3,410 1,789 333
Idaho 236,774 3,628 2,295 1,156 177
Illinois 1,893,078 5,323 3,204 1,939 181
Indiana 965,599 5,245 3,232 1,783 230
Iowa 498,519 5,070 3,126 1,717 227
Kansas 457,614 5,081 2,939 1,892 249
Kentucky 655,265 4,505 2,699 2/ 1,571 2/ 235
Louisiana 800,560 4,133 1/ 2,457 1,305 371 1/
Maine 216,995 5,569 3,726 1,639 203
Maryland 772,638 6,191 3,742 2/ 2,135 314 2/
Massachusetts 877,726 6,423 3,872 2,327 224
Michigan 1,599,377 6,138 3,559 2,401 178
Minnesota 810,233 5,342 3,403 1,722 216
Mississippi 505,907 3,410 2,107 1,030 273
Missouri 875,639 4,547 2,759 1,587 201
Montana 163,009 5,043 3,153 1,675 215
Nebraska 285,097 5,310 3,302 2/ 1,557 452 2/
Nevada 235,800 4,661 2,775 1,727 159
New Hampshire 185,360 5,433 3,489 2/ 1,753 2/ 192 2/
New Jersey 1,151,307 9,075 2/ 5,438 3,346 291 2/
New Mexico 322,292 4,106 2,405 1,464 237
New York 2,733,813 8,069 5,445 2,396 229
North Carolina 1,133,231 4,540 1/ 2,789 1,405 346 1/
North Dakota 119,127 4,385 2,689 1,319 378
Ohio 1,807,319 5,319 3,163 1,959 196
Oklahoma 604,076 4,403 1/ 2,569 1,464 370 1/
Oregon 516,611 5,522 3,307 2,027 188
Pennsylvania 1,744,082 6,443 4,097 2,101 245
Rhode Island 145,676 6,797 4,529 2,094 174
South Carolina 643,859 3/ 4,335 2,566 1,496 273
South Dakota 142,825 4,095 2,525 1,344 226
Tennessee 866,991 3/ 3,813 2,451 1,152 210
Texas 3,608,262 4,488 2,661 1,558 269
Utah 471,365 3,206 2,150 860 196
Vermont 102,755 6,266 4,087 1,972 207
Virginia 1,045,471 5,205 1/ 3,133 1,802 270 1/
Washington 915,952 5,342 2/ 3,189 2/ 1,906 247 2/
West Virginia 314,383 5,292 3,292 1,701 300
Wisconsin 844,001 6,126 3,892 2,050 183
Wyoming 100,899 5,534 3,420 1,919 195
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Outlying Areas
American Samoa 14,484 1,737 800 745 192
Guam 30,920 5,310 2,914 2,115 281
Northern Marianas 8,188 4,846 3,659 837 350
Puerto Rico 631,460 2,250 1,541 418 291
Virgin Islands 22,752 5,301 3,013 2,013 276
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1/ Value contains imputation for missing expenditure data.
2/ Value affected by redistribution of reported expenditure values for missing data items.
3/ Prekindergarten student count imputed thereby affecting total student membership.
NOTE: Details may not add to total due to rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , Common Core of Data, "National Public Education Financial Survey."
For questions about the content of this report, please contact Frank Johnson.