K-12 breaks the $1 trillion barrier: Do schools need more?

Federal, state and local revenue for K-12 public education hit $1 trillion in the 2023-24 school year Schools had 22 percent more money to spend -- and 1 percent fewer students -- compared to 10 years earlier.

High-poverty and mostly non-white school districts spend more per student than wealthier and whiter districts, according to a new Brookings analysis, writes Amanda Geduld in The 74.

That's not news. It's been true for the past 50 years, primarily due to federal funding. But it challenges a popular narrative the underfunding leads to unequal outcomes, said Sarah Reber, the report's lead author.

“I definitely don’t want to put myself in the ‘money doesn’t matter’ (group), like we shouldn’t care about that at all,” she said. “But I think this idea that people have that obviously the reason that schools that serve poor students are struggling is that they have less money (is) not the case. For one thing they don’t — they have more money.”

Where does the money go? Chad Aldeman explains what happens to the $1 trillion, also on The 74.

In 2023-24, public schools spent $17,619 per student nationwide, but that includes huge variations, he writes. New York and the District of Columbia spent more than $30,000 per student, while Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi spent closer to $11,000 or $12,000 per child. 

"These figures don’t account for cost-of-living differences, but they reflect real distinctions in how public education looks in various parts of the country, he explains. For example, Vermont "schools employ one full-time staff member for every 4.3 students," and some other states have similar staffing ratios, while "the average school in Utah has 11.3 students for every employee."

In a few states -- Alaska, Montana and Wyoming -- real per-pupil spending fell.

Teachers -- average salary of $72,030 -- aren't getting higher take-home pay in inflation-adjusted dollars. Districts are paying much more in employee benefits. And they're hiring "more teachers and a lot more instructional aides, principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors and student support staff."

Spending is higher at district-run public schools with more low-income and non-white students, Aldeman writes. Often these schools have lots of teachers and support staff, but employees tend to be" less experienced, and thus lower-paid." It's not clear whether high-need students would do better if their schools were staffed with fewer adults but more experienced, higher-paid teachers.

"Crossing the trillion-dollar threshold presents an opportunity to ask harder questions than whether schools simply need more money," he concludes. "Enrollment is falling, spending has risen substantially and staffing has expanded, yet teacher pay has stagnated and student outcomes remain uneven."