Largest Year-to-Year Increase in Over 20 Years for Public School Spending Per Pupil

Nationally, public school spending per student rose 8.9% from $14,358 in FY 2021 to $15,633 in FY 2022, according to new data from the 2022 Annual Survey of School System Finances released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This represents the largest percentage increase in public school spending per pupil in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in over 20 years. Statistics are not adjusted for inflation or cost-of-living differences between geographic areas.

The states spending the most per pupil were New York ($29,873), the District of Columbia ($27,425), New Jersey ($25,099), Vermont ($24,608), and Connecticut ($24,453). The states spending the least per pupil were Utah ($9,552), Idaho ($9,670), Arizona ($10,315), Oklahoma ($10,890), and Mississippi ($10,984).

Other highlights:

• Seven out of nine states in the Northeast region ranked among the top 10 in current spending per pupil in FY 2022; the remaining two states in the region, Pennsylvania and Maine, ranked 11th and 14th, respectively. Sixteen out of the 20 states with the lowest per pupil spending were in the South or West regions. The remaining four were Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and South Dakota.
• Among the 100 largest school systems (by enrollment), New York City School District in New York ($35,914) spent the most per pupil in FY 2022, followed by Washington Schools in the District of Columbia ($27,425), San Francisco Unified in California ($23,654), Atlanta School District in Georgia ($22,882), Los Angeles Unified in California ($21,940), and Detroit School District in Michigan ($21,771).
• Public school systems in Mississippi (23.3%), South Dakota (21.7%), Montana (20.9%), Alaska (20.6%), and Arkansas (20.4%) had the highest percentage of revenue from federal sources compared to their total revenue in FY 2022, while those in New York (7.2%), New Jersey (7.4%), Connecticut (8.0%), New Hampshire (8.8%), and Massachusetts (9.4%) had the lowest.
• Total school district debt increased by 2.1% from $532.5 billion in FY 2021 to $543.9 billion in FY 2022.

Revenue

Elementary and secondary education revenue from all sources in FY 2022 amounted to $878.2 billion, up 8.4% from the prior year.

Revenue raised from local sources amounted to $375.2 billion (42.7%) of elementary-secondary funding, while the federal government contributed $119.1 billion (13.6%).

Of the $375.2 billion schools received from local sources, $326.2 billion was from taxes and parent government contributions while property taxes accounted for 65.4% of revenue from local sources.
State governments contributed the greatest share (43.7% or $383.9 billion) of all public school system funding.

Expenditures

Total expenditure by public elementary-secondary school systems totaled $857.3 billion in FY 2022, up 7.8% from the prior year.

• Of the total expenditure for elementary and secondary education, current spending made up $746.9 billion (87.1%) and capital outlay made up $84.2 billion (9.8%).
• The largest expenditure category was instructional salaries with public elementary and secondary school systems spending $266.4 billion for salaries in FY 2022, which was 31.1% of total expenditures.
• Expenditure for instruction for all school systems amounted to $446.9 billion or 59.8% of total current spending, while expenditure for support services amounted to $264.6 billion (35.4%).

The Annual Survey of School System Finances provides data about public school spending – including per student (pre-K to grade 12) expenditures – debt and assets (cash and security holdings) for all states and the District of Columbia.