K-12 Spending per Student by State

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

 

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When it comes to state funding of public schools, it's clear that not all states are created equal. For a variety of reasons, such as the prevalence of successful businesses or the median income in a given area, spending on K-12 students varies greatly from state to state, or even county to county. A decrease in public school funding affects student and faculty alike, as budget cuts often bring about layoffs.

Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, StartClass has ranked each state based on K-12 spending per student. Data was reported in January 2016 and reflects the 2012-13 school year. The values reported are adjusted for the cost of living in each state, and spending data from the previous two years has been included and adjusted for inflation.

On average, each state spent $10,763 per student in 2012-13, a 3.5 percent decrease from 2010-11. Wisconsin experienced the biggest two-year drop in spending, down 10.5 percent, but the state landed outside the bottom 15 in spending per student.

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#50. Utah

2012-13 spending per student: $6,991
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.56 percent

#49. Arizona

2012-13 spending per student: $7,421
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -7.96 percent

#48. Nevada

2012-13 spending per student: $7,431
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -8.82 percent

#47. Idaho

2012-13 spending per student: $7,512
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.28 percent

#46. California

2012-13 spending per student: $8,050
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.27 percent

#45. Colorado

2012-13 spending per student: $8,124
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.45 percent

#44. Mississippi

2012-13 spending per student: $8,455
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -2.13 percent

#43. North Carolina

2012-13 spending per student: $8,512
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.57 percent

#42. Hawaii

2012-13 spending per student: $8,635
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.89 percent

#41. Florida

2012-13 spending per student: $8,710
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -8.75 percent

#40. Oregon

2012-13 spending per student: $9,092
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -7.78 percent

#39. Texas

2012-13 spending per student: $9,282
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -9.1 percent

#38. Oklahoma

2012-13 spending per student: $9,421
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -0.9 percent

#37. South Dakota

2012-13 spending per student: $9,589
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -7.66 percent

#36. Washington

2012-13 spending per student: $9,618
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.5 percent

#35. Alabama

2012-13 spending per student: $9,641
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.92 percent

#34. Georgia

2012-13 spending per student: $9,703
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.86 percent

#33. Indiana

2012-13 spending per student: $9,814
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -2.69 percent

#32. New Mexico

2012-13 spending per student: $9,854
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.32 percent

#31. Wisconsin

2012-13 spending per student: $10,169
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -10.53 percent

#30. Kentucky

2012-13 spending per student: $10,191
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.96 percent

#29. Arkansas

2012-13 spending per student: $10,367
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.02 percent

#28. Kansas

2012-13 spending per student: $10,428
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -2.4 percent

#27. Montana

2012-13 spending per student: $10,556
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.95 percent

#26. Iowa

2012-13 spending per student: $10,609
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +0.41 percent

#25. Missouri

2012-13 spending per student: $10,662
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -2 percent

#24. South Carolina

2012-13 spending per student: $10,732
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +1.32 percent

#23. Minnesota

2012-13 spending per student: $10,848
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -0.93 percent

#22. Virginia

2012-13 spending per student: $10,851
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +1.07 percent

#21. Tennessee

2012-13 spending per student: $11,010
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -1.48 percent

#20. Michigan

2012-13 spending per student: $11,068
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5 percent

#19. West Virginia

2012-13 spending per student: $11,605
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -10.19 percent

#18. Maine

2012-13 spending per student: $11,939
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.84 percent

#17. Illinois

2012-13 spending per student: $11,964
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +1.27 percent

#16. Louisiana

2012-13 spending per student: $12,114
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -6.73 percent

#15. Ohio

2012-13 spending per student: $12,257
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -5.43 percent

#14. New Hampshire

2012-13 spending per student: $12,325
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -0.9 percent

#13. North Dakota

2012-13 spending per student: $12,356
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +1.85 percent

#12. Nebraska

2012-13 spending per student: $12,361
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.12 percent

#11. Delaware

2012-13 spending per student: $12,526
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +4.65 percent

#10. Maryland

2012-13 spending per student: $13,043
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -3.48 percent

#9. Massachusetts

2012-13 spending per student: $13,095
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +0.2 percent

#8. Rhode Island

2012-13 spending per student: $13,176
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.81 percent

#7. Connecticut

2012-13 spending per student: $13,427
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +2.03 percent

#6. Pennsylvania

2012-13 spending per student: $13,581
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -1.89 percent

#5. Vermont

2012-13 spending per student: $14,526
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +12.32 percent

#4. Wyoming

2012-13 spending per student: $14,644
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -4.44 percent

#3. New York

2012-13 spending per student: $15,139
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: -1.03 percent

#2. New Jersey

2012-13 spending per student: $15,183
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +5.02 percent

#1. Alaska

2012-13 spending per student: $15,841
Percent change from 2010-11 to 2012-13: +4.47 percent

American K-12 Spending per Student by State

Research More About Public Schools at StartClass

 

Related Slideshow: RI Experts on the Biggest Issues Facing Public Education

On Friday November 22, the Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University, the Latino Policy Institute of Roger Williams University, the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, the Providence Student Union, and RI-CAN: Rhode Island Campaign for Achievement Now will host Rhode Island leaders in the public and nonprofit sectors for a symposium on "the civil rights issue of the 21st century, adequacy and equity and the State of Education in Rhode Island."

Weighing in on the the "three biggest factors" facing education in the state today are symposium participatnts Gary Sasse, Founding Director of the Hassenfeld Institute for Leadership; Christine Lopes Metcalfe, Executive Director of RI-CAN; Anna Cano-Morales, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, Central Falls Public Schools and Director, Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University; Tim Duffy, Executive Director, RI Association of School Committees; and Deborah Cylke, Superintendent of Pawtucket Public Schools.  

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Sasse

"Provide a state constitutional guarantee that all children will have access to  an education that will prepare them to meet high performance standards and be successful adults.

Bridge the gap between the educational achievement of majority and minority students.  This will require the implementation of a comprehensive agenda for quality education in Rhode Island’s inner cities."

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Sasse

"Revisit school governance and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the state, school districts , neighborhood schools, and school teachers and school administrators.  Develop and implement a system to hold schools responsible for student outcomes."

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Sasse

"Build a consensus and buy in of all stakeholders around  the education reform initiatives being advanced by the Board of Education."

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Metcalfe

"Set high expectations and raise our standards across the state for anyone that contributes to the success of our students. From adopting the Common Core to discussing rigorous teacher evaluations, conversations around creating a culture of high expectations have to be at the center of the work."

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Metcalfe

"Expand opportunities and start earlier - we must ensure that all kids have access to a high performing public school of their choice, which includes full-day kindergarten."

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Metcalfe

"School facilities - with an aging infrastructure, underutilized buildings and the need to provide fair funding for school facilities for all public school students regardless of the public school they attend, this needs to be a top issue tackled by the RI General Assembly in 2014."

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Cano-Morales

"Meet the academic potential of all students but especially with regards to urban schools students -- 3 out of 4 are Latinos in Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket." 

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Cano-Morales

"Connect through specific best practices the academic successes of our students to careers jobs. Investing in schools is economic development as a whole for Rhode Island. " 

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Cano-Morales

"Increase the access to -- and completion of -- higher education and post- secondary opportunities.  Poverty? Struggling families? Education and access to careers and competitive wages is the best antidote."

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Duffy

"Providing adequate funding is critical -- and there are going to be pressures on the state budget, which mean stresses to meet the education funding formula.  With the predictions of the state's projected loss of revenue with the casinos in MA, education funding could be on the cutting board, and we need to ensure that it's not.  Do we need to look at strengthening the language of the constitution to guarantee funding?"

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Duffy

"Implementing the common core standards will provide continuity -- and comparison -- between states now.  With over 40 states involved, we're embarking a new set of standards here."

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Duffy

"Accountability and assessing student performance -- how that it's driven by the common core, we'll be able to compare the best districts in RI against the best districts in say MA.  That's the intent of the Common Core is a standardization of how we hold the system accountable."

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Cylke

"Issue one is quality.  Your quality of education should not be dependent on your zip code.  And the reality is, certain cities are distressed, or whose property values are not as high, I know each town has a different capacity to fund education. There's an absolute, clear relationship between the quality of public schools, and economic development of states. There's irrefutable evidence that quality public schools can make states more competitive."

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Cylke

"Issue two is equality.  In West Warwick and Providence, the per pupil spending is around $16K.  In Pawtucket it's $12.9.  What's wrong with that picture? If I'm in charge of overseeing that my students are college ready, they need to be adequate funding.  A difference of $3000 per pupil?  We're talking in the tens of millions of dollars -- more like $25 million in this case.  An exemplary school district is Montgomery County, MD -- they have roughly the same number of students, around 145,000 -- there's one funding figure per pupil. There's equitable funding for all kids."

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Cylke

"Issue three is Infrastructure.  A critical issue is whether the state is going to lift its moratorium in 2014 for renovations for older schools, ore new construction.  If that moratorium is not lifted, and those funds are not available, it is critical to us here in Pawtucket. The average of my schools is 66 years, I've got 3 that celebrate 100 years this year. These old schools have good bones, but they need to be maintained.  These are assets -- and this is all interrelated with the funding formula."

 
 

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