Revenues and Expenditures for Public K-12 Education Increase for Second Consecutive Year

This First Look report presents state-level data on revenues by source and expenditures by function for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2014-15. State education agencies in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the outlying territories provide the data to NCES. A report on district-level revenues and expenditures will be released later this year.

Revenues and expenditures increased in public K-12 education for the second consecutive school year in 2014–15 (Fiscal Year 2015). Total revenues increased by 3.3 percent from Fiscal Year (FY) 14 to FY 15, local revenues increased by 3.3 percent, state revenues increased by 3.7 percent, and federal revenues remained level with an increase of 0.2 percent, after adjusting for inflation.

The two years of spending increases reverse four consecutive years of expenditure declines from FY 09 to FY 13, after adjusting for inflation. Current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education across the nation increased by 3.3 percent between FY 14 and FY 15, following on the heels of an increase of 1.7 percent the previous year.

Nationally, per pupil expenditures rose to $11,454 in FY 15, an increase of 2.8 percent from FY 14, after adjusting for inflation.

At the state level, current expenditures per pupil ranged from $6,751 in Utah to $20,744 in New York. In addition to New York, current expenditures per pupil were at least 40 percent higher than the national average in Washington, DC ($20,610), Alaska ($20,191), Connecticut ($19,020), New Jersey ($18,838), Vermont ($18,769), Massachusetts ($16,566), and Wyoming ($16,047).

Current expenditures per pupil increased by 3 percent or more in 12 states and by 1 to less than 3 percent in 23 states between FY 14 and FY 15. These increases were highest in Alaska (8.6 percent), California (7.3 percent), Texas (4.8 percent), Illinois (4.7 percent), and Maine (4.6 percent).