School Spending Per Pupil Rose 3.2 %, Census Bureau Finds

The amount spent per pupil for public elementary-secondary education for all 50 states and the District of Columbia increased by 3.2% to $11,762 during the 2016 fiscal year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The increase in spending in 2016 was due in part to the increase in revenue across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2016, public elementary-secondary education revenue, from all sources, amounted to $670.9 billion, up 4.6% from the prior year. This is the largest increase since 2007.

Other highlights include:

• Of the 50 states, New York ($22,366), the District of Columbia ($19,159), Connecticut ($18,958), New Jersey ($18,402) and Vermont ($17,873) spent the most per pupil in 2016. California (9.8%), Washington (7.4%), Hawaii (7%), Utah (5.8%) and New York (5.5%) saw the largest %age increases in current spending per pupil from 2015 to 2016.
• Within public school systems, Mississippi (14.6%), Arizona (13.8%), South Dakota (13.5%), New Mexico (13.5%) and Montana (12.4%) received the highest percentage of their revenues from the federal government, while public school systems in New Jersey (4.1%), Connecticut (4.2%), Massachusetts (4.4%), New York (5.1%) and Minnesota (5.3%) received the lowest.

These statistics come from the 2016 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Education finance data include revenues, expenditures, debt and assets (cash and security holdings) of elementary-secondary (prekindergarten through 12th grade) public school systems. Statistics cover school systems in all states and include the District of Columbia.