Long-term education debt spending has been increasing in almost every state--totalling $486 billion in 2019, which is the most recent data available.
The Reason Foundation released a
According to the U.S. Census Bureau data used in the Spotlight, total long-term debt in school districts nationwide grew by more than $40 billion over the last six years. About half of the states have increased debt spending by more than 30% since 2002. Per pupil spending on long-term debt reached $10,100 in 2019, which is up from $9,160 in 2014.
Short-term debt spending amounted to $9.2 billion, or $192 per pupil, in 2019. That is up about 1.8 billion from 2014. Four states including Texas, North Dakota, Nevada and Illinois showed more than 30% increases in short-term debt spending.
In terms of national K-12 education trends, Reason Foundation determined that “inflation adjusted revenues grew by nearly 24%--or $3,005 per pupil--between 2002 and 2019.”
New York, North Dakota and New Hampshire saw the largest percentage increases in per pupil revenue, growing by nearly 65% for New York. Both North Dakota and New Hampshire saw an almost 52% increase over the 17 year period.
Meanwhile, Arizona, North Carolina, and Idaho had the lowest levels of per pupil revenue--all with growth of less than 1.2% from 2002 to 2019.
Aaron Garth Smith, director of education policy at Reason Foundation, said that while the amount of increased education spending varied in each state, “a clear point --contrary to what some may claim--is that education spending has been on the rise in the last couple of decades.”
"That’s even before accounting for the $200 million or so of federal aid that is related to COVID-19," Smith added.
Reason Foundation analyst Jordan Campbell
However, Campbell said he expects that breakdown to change “when more recent data become available due to the federal stimulus dollars sent to states during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Census Bureau reports that the largest categories of education expenditures include elementary-secondary programs and capital outlays. Capital outlay--including spending for construction, land, existing structures and equipment--accounted for 10% of all education spending.
However, the bulk of education dollars, more than 87%, were spent on instruction and support services. Reason Foundation found that “overall, spending on instruction and support services experienced similar growth rates per pupil at 19% and 24% respectively.”
Although salaries accounted for some of that amount, Reason Foundation concluded that benefits spending soared nationwide, increasing by $949 per pupil between 2002 and 2019.
Smith considers this to be a significant and underreported takeaway from the Spending Spotlight. “Benefit spending is crowding dollars out of classrooms,” Smith says.
While education spending on benefits increased substantially across virtually every state in the country, “in a handful of cases, the amount of benefit spending has increased by more than 170% per pupil,” Smith explained. Data show that Hawaii tops this finding--with a benefits spending percentage increase of about 200%.
Smith says that a big driver of that increase is due to unfunded pension liabilities that have accrued over time within states.
As a result, “states are definitely spending more on K-12 education,” Smith said, adding, “But teachers are not necessarily seeing better benefits for this increased spending.”
