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Report: State School Funding Still Less Than Pre-Recession Levels

By ASBO International posted 10-21-2014 11:09

  

According to a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report, K–12 school state funding has yet to recover to the funding levels in place before the 2007–2009 recession.

The report indicates that overall, more than 60% of the 47 states analyzed are spending less per student in the current school year than they did in 2008. At least 30 states are providing less funding per pupil than they did before the recession hit; in 14 of those states, the per-student spending is 10% or more below pre-2008 levels. Even though a majority of states’ funding has increased since last year, funding has not increased enough to make up for cuts over the last seven years. 

Oklahoma, Alabama, and Arizona have seen the biggest decrease (more than 15%) in per-student spending since the recession hit. However, North Dakota and Alaska increased per-student spending by approximately 32% and 16% respectively compared to pre-recession levels. These two states have spent almost four times more per-student than any other states that have also increased funding since 2008.


Why Have States Cut Funding So Deeply?

  • State revenues fell sharply due to the recession. Unemployment and housing values remain below their pre-recession levels, which affects income tax and sales tax revenues—the main sources of education funding.
     
  • Emergency aid from the federal government ran out before the economy recovered. After FY2011, the federal government allowed emergency aid to states (including education aid) to expire. States rely on federal aid to address shortfalls in their budgets. 

  • States addressed budget shortfalls through spending reductions rather than a balance of service cuts and revenue increases. Between FY2008 and FY2012, states addressed 45% of their budget gaps with cuts, 16% through taxes, and 39% through other measures. Many states avoided raising revenue and actually enacted large tax cuts instead. 


Why Do Education Cuts Matter?

The report warns that cutting state funding has serious consequences—local school districts must scale back on educational services, raise more revenue to cover the funding gap, or both. Excessive cuts have prevented school districts from recruiting better teachers, trimming class size, expanding learning time, and providing a high-quality early education.

Also, excessive education cuts have slowed economic recovery since the recession ended in mid-2009. Education cuts have caused school districts to eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and with no jobs, local families have less purchasing power. Less purchasing power means less overall economic consumption, which also means a slower economic recovery. For our country to prosper, we need a well-educated workforce, but funding cuts will continue to diminish the quality of schools and the quality of education our children receive and undermine our nation’s future prosperity.

Take a look and see where your state falls on the list. Has your state increased or decreased its per-student funding since the recession? What do you think about the report? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

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