A new brief from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, New School Year Brings Steep Cuts in State Funding for Schools, by Phil Oliff and Michael Leachman, considers the effect of reduced state funding for K-12 schools in the United States. The brief looks at the funding of 24 of the 50 states and shows the effect of reduced budgets. The brief chose the 24 states because the necessary data was available, the 24 states also include ¾ of the students in the U.S.

As the 2011-12 school year starts, the majority of elementary and high schools are receiving less state funds than they did last year. The schools are now funded at a level that is below the pre-recession level for most of the states. For ten of the states the level of money is less than that of the pre-recession level by 10%. Cuts in K-12 school budgets can have serious consequences on the ability of schools to function:

States are cutting K-12 education formula funding, which is the primary funding source for schools. As the report points out, “… since states typically distribute general education aid through formulas that target additional funds to school districts with large shares of low-income and other high-need children, reductions in “formula” funding may result in particularly deep cuts in general state aid for districts with high concentrations of low-income students.”

 

 

Using the data from the 24 states, there have been deep cuts to state education formula funding since the beginning of the recession.  The survey finds that, after adjusting for inflation:

-          Over two-thirds of the states – 17 of the 24 states survey – are providing less per-student funding for K-12 education in the current 2012 fiscal year than they did in fiscal year 2008, just before the start of the recession.

-          In well over a third or 10 of the 24 states, per student funding is dropping more than 10 percent below pre-recession levels.

-          The three states with the deepest cuts – South Carolina, Arizona, and California – each are reducing per student funding by more than 20 percent from pre-recession levels.

The deepest cuts in education funds have occurred in the past year. After adjusting for inflation between last year (fiscal year 2011) and the current 2012 fiscal year:

-          Almost all states for which data are available – 21 of the 24 states – have cut per student education funding.

-          Seventeen of the 24 states have cut per student funding by more than two percent.

-          Eleven of the 24 states have cut per student funding by more than five percent.

-          Of the states surveyed, the three states that reduced per student funding the most since last year are Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin. Illinois cut per student spending by 13 percent, while Ohio and Texas imposed cuts of about 10 percent.

The brief points out that school districts have few options when it comes to preserving education services. For most communities it comes down to maintaining services such as police and fire, or maintaining school services.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, New School Year Brings Steep Cuts in State Funding for Schools