Selected Findings: Fiscal Year 2009

• The 50 states and the District and Columbia reported $593.1 billion in revenues collected for public elementary and secondary education in fiscal year 2009 (FY 09) (table 1). The greatest percentage of revenues came from state and local governments, which together provided $536.3 billion or 90 percent of all revenues; the federal government’s contribution was $56.7 billion or 10 percent of all revenues (derived from table 1 and figure 1). Total revenues were unchanged for FY 09 compared to FY 08 adjusted for inflation.¹ Local revenues increased by 1 percent; federal revenues increased by 17 percent; and state revenues decreased by 3 percent (Zhou, 2010).
• Current expenditures² totaled $519.0 billion in FY 09 (table 2). Current expenditures per pupil for public elementary and secondary education were $10,591 (table 3).
• The per pupil expenditures for instruction³ were $6,456 in FY 09 (table 3). Per pupil current expenditures for instruction ranged from $4,275 in Utah to $12,276 in New York (table 3).
• Instruction accounted for 61 percent of all current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education in FY 09 (table 4). Total support services accounted for 35 percent, food services accounted for 4 percent, and enterprise operations made up less than 1 percent of total current expenditures.
• Adjusting for inflation, per pupil state and local revenues decreased by one percent or more in 16 states and increased by one percent or more in 25 states from FY 08 to FY 09 (table 5). At the same time, per pupil current expenditures decreased by one percent or more in 8 states and increased by one percent or more in 36 states from FY 08 to FY 09.
• Adjusting for inflation, current expenditures per pupil were up 34 percent compared to FY 95 ($7,891) and up 62 percent compared to FY 85 ($6,539) (table 6 and figure 2).
• Figure 3 and tables 7 and 8 combine the detailed expenditure functions presented in tables 2, 3, and 4 into four groupings. When expenditures for instruction were combined with instruction-related services such as libraries, media centers, and instructional staff development, they totaled $341.3 billion (table 7), or $6,966 per student in FY 09 (table 8). Instruction and instruction-related expenditures made up 66 percent of all current expenditures in FY 09 (table 7 and figure 3).
• In FY 09, states reported $316.3 billion in current instruction expenditures, which included $213.5 billion for salaries and $71.0 billion in employee benefits for teachers and teacher aides (table 9).
• Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary education and other related programs were $610.1 billion in FY 09, including $519.0 billion in current expenditures, $59.2 billion in facilities acquisition and construction, $6.7 billion in replacement equipment, $8.5 billion in other programs (such as community services and adult education, which are not part of public elementary and secondary education), and $16.7 billion in interest on debt (table 10).

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¹ Data have been adjusted to fiscal year 2009 dollars. See Appendix A: Methodology and Technical Notes for more information on inflation-adjusted data.
² Current expenditures include expenditures for the day-to-day operation of schools and school districts (salaries, benefits, supplies, and purchased services) for public elementary and secondary education. They exclude expenditures for construction, equipment, property, debt services, and programs outside of public elementary and secondary education such as adult education and community services.
³ Instruction expenditures include activities related to the interaction between teachers and students. Salaries and benefits for teachers and teacher aides, textbooks, supplies and purchased services are included. These expenditures also include expenditures relating to extracurricular and co-curricular activities.