How Public Education Is Funded

In the 2004-2005 school year, on average, about $8,700 of public revenue was spent per child on K-12 public school instruction. This represents core instructional spending and may not even cover additional programmatic and administrative costs, which, according to some estimates, can increase the per pupil public expenditure estimate to over $12,000. Nearly 90 percent of this funding comes from state and local governments, while the rest is supplied by the federal government and private sources.

As is the case in almost every facet of the U.S. education system, major differences in funding levels exist among states. In 2004-05, New York, the state with the highest per-pupil spending, averaged $14,119 per student for its core spending, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New Jersey followed closely behind, spending $13,800 per student annually. Utah, meanwhile, had the lowest average per-pupil spending with $5,257. Per-pupil spending can even greatly fluctuate within a state like New York, where the North Syracuse district had an average per pupil expenditure of $10,570 in 2004-05, while the New Rochelle district spent 50 percent more that amount – $15,529 – on each student over the same time.