State Budget Cuts
Complete report
Of 46 states that publish education budget data in a way that allows historic comparisons:
* 37 states are providing less funding per student to local school districts in the new school year than they provided last year.
* 30 states are providing less than they did four years ago..
* 17 states have cut per-student funding by more than 10 percent from pre-recession levels.
* Four states— South Carolina, Arizona, California, and Hawaii — each have reduced per student funding to K-12 schools by more than 20 percent. (These figures, like all the comparisons in this paper, are in inflation-adjusted dollars and focus on the primary form of state aid to local schools.)
State-level K-12 spending cuts of this magnitude have serious consequences for the nation.
* State-level K-12 cuts have large consequences for local school districts. Some 47 percent of total education expenditures in the U.S. come from state funds (the share varies by state). Cuts at the state level mean that local school districts have to either scale back the educational services they provide, raise more revenue to cover the gap, or both. In particular, cuts in state aid may particularly affect school districts with high concentrations of