Late last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released an update of spending in American elementary and secondary schools. I've already dug into the national numbers, but it's also worth taking a look at how spending patterns have changed across the states over time.
Overall, schools spent* about 5.4 percent more per pupil ($628) in 2017 versus 2008, in inflation-adjusted dollars. But these national figures hide significant variation at the state level both in terms of total spending and in how states are choosing to spend their money. As with the national figures, states are spending more and more of their education budgets on things like employee benefits and other support services while spending less on teacher salaries.
Other reports, like this one from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), have found that some states are still spending less than they did prior to the 2007-9 recession. I'm looking at a slightly different calculation than CBPP did--they appear to be looking at revenues as opposed to expenditures, and it's not clear if they were looking at total spending or only current spending, my preferred metric. Still, I also find that K-12 spending is down in real terms over the last 10 years in 15 states:
K-12 Spending Is Below Pre-Recession Levels in 15 States
| Florida............................................................................ | -11.0% |
| Oklahoma....................................................................... | -8.4% |
| Georgia.......................................................................... | -7.6% |
| Alabama........................................................................ | -7.4% |
| Arizona........................................................................... | -6.7% |
| Idaho.............................................................................. | -4.3% |
| Colorado......................................................................... | -4.2% |
| New Mexico................................................................... | -3.4% |
| Mississippi..................................................................... | -1.6% |
| Indiana........................................................................... | -1.5% |
| Virginia........................................................................... | -1.2% |
| Wisconsin....................................................................... | -0.7% |
| Nevada........................................................................... | -0.3% |
| Louisiana........................................................................ | -0.3% |
| Texas............................................................................. | -0.1% |
The Census Bureau breaks down their spending figures into a few different categories, and I'll look at them separately. First up is total salaries and wages. Nationally, that figure is up but only by 0.3 percent, in real terms. 23 states are spending less on salaries and wages than they did pre-recession:
Spending on Salaries and Wages Is Below Pre-Recession Levels in 23 States
| Florida............................................................................ | -16.2% |
| Oklahoma....................................................................... | -13.3% |
| Georgia.......................................................................... | -10.0% |
| Arizona........................................................................... | -9.9% |
| Louisiana........................................................................ | -9.5% |
| Alabama........................................................................ | -8.0% |
| Idaho.............................................................................. | -7.7% |
| New Mexico................................................................... | -7.7% |
| North Carolina................................................................. | -7.0% |
| Michigan........................................................................ | -6.6% |
| Indiana........................................................................... | -5.8% |
| Kentucky........................................................................ | -4.7% |
| South Carolina................................................................. | -4.6% |
| Virginia........................................................................... | -4.4% |
| Mississippi..................................................................... | -3.4% |
| Arkansas........................................................................ | -2.8% |
| Nevada........................................................................... | -2.6% |
| Kansas.......................................................................... | -1.6% |
| Texas............................................................................. | -0.9% |
| New Jersey..................................................................... | -0.8% |
| Wyoming......................................................................... | -0.5% |
| Missouri........................................................................ | -0.3% |
| Colorado......................................................................... | -0.2% |
The trends look even worse when you focus solely on what the Census Bureau calls salaries and wages for instruction. This category separates out things like school and district supports and administration and is the closest we can get to identifying how much money schools paid directly to teachers. Unfortunately, of all the Census Bureau categories, this is the only one that actually declined over the last 10 years. Nationally, salaries and wages for instructional employees fell by 0.3 percent over the last 10 years in real, per pupil terms. In fact, as of 2017, 28 states were spending less on instructional salaries than they were 10 years prior:
28 states are spending less on instructional salaries than they did pre-recession
| Florida............................................................................ | -16.8% |
| Oklahoma....................................................................... | -15.9% |
| Arizona........................................................................... | -14.1% |
| Louisiana........................................................................ | -13.5% |
| Georgia.......................................................................... | -11.7% |
| Alabama........................................................................ | -8.5% |
| Indiana........................................................................... | -8.4% |
| New Mexico................................................................... | -8.3% |
| Idaho.............................................................................. | -8.2% |
| North Carolina................................................................. | -7.8% |
| South Carolina................................................................. | -7.4% |
| Mississippi..................................................................... | -7.1% |
| Kentucky........................................................................ | -6.5% |
| West Virginia................................................................... | -5.0% |
| Arkansas........................................................................ | -4.6% |
| Virginia........................................................................... | -4.3% |
| Michigan........................................................................ | -4.0% |
| Colorado......................................................................... | -4.0% |
| Maryland........................................................................ | -2.8% |
| Texas............................................................................. | -2.8% |
| Missouri........................................................................ | -2.4% |
| Wisconsin....................................................................... | -2.3% |
| New Jersey..................................................................... | -1.3% |
| Nevada........................................................................... | -1.3% |
| Tennessee....................................................................... | -1.2% |
| Wyoming......................................................................... | -1.1% |
| California........................................................................ | -0.4% |
| Kansas.......................................................................... | -0.3% |
It's probably no coincidence that states with notable recent teacher strikes--including Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Colorado--all made this list.
In addition to salaries and wages, the Census Bureau also reports spending on employee benefits, including pensions and health care. In contrast with salaries and wages, which were flat or declining, benefit spending rose 23.5 percent, in real terms, over this same time period. Only five states managed to keep their benefit spending in check, whereas 31 states plus the District of Columbia experienced double-digit (!) increases in benefit spending:
31 states and the District of Columbia experienced double-digit increases in benefit spending
| Ohio............................................................................... | 12.3% |
| Montana........................................................................ | 12.3% |
| Nevada........................................................................... | 13.3% |
| South Dakota.................................................................. | 13.7% |
| Kansas.......................................................................... | 14.1% |
| Oregon........................................................................... | 14.8% |
| Tennessee....................................................................... | 14.9% |
| Missouri........................................................................ | 16.2% |
| New Jersey..................................................................... | 17.6% |
| Maryland........................................................................ | 17.6% |
| Iowa.............................................................................. | 17.9% |
| South Carolina................................................................. | 19.7% |
| Minnesota...................................................................... | 20.3% |
| Utah................................................................................ | 21.1% |
| Kentucky........................................................................ | 24.3% |
| Wyoming......................................................................... | 26.2% |
| Nebraska....................................................................... | 26.8% |
| Louisiana........................................................................ | 29.9% |
| Michigan........................................................................ | 30.3% |
| Delaware........................................................................ | 30.5% |
| Hawaii........................................................................... | 30.8% |
| North Carolina................................................................. | 30.9% |
| Washington..................................................................... | 32.7% |
| New Hampshire............................................................... | 37.0% |
| California........................................................................ | 37.3% |
| Vermont.......................................................................... | 39.0% |
| New York....................................................................... | 41.3% |
| Connecticut.................................................................... | 49.4% |
| North Dakota................................................................... | 62.0% |
| Pennsylvania.................................................................. | 68.9% |
| District of Columbia.......................................................... | 105.6% |
| Illinois............................................................................ | 152.3% |
To be clear, increased benefit spending has not led to improvements in employee benefits. Most of these cost increases are due to paying down pension debts or changes in accounting rules on retiree health benefits. Teachers should be concerned that rising educational expenditures are not ending up in their pockets but are instead being diverted toward other purposes.
While benefit costs were the fastest-rising category of spending, schools are also spending more on student supports (up 14.6 percent in real terms), general administration (up 6.5 percent), and school administration (up 5.7 percent).
There are a couple main lessons here. One is the importance of digging beneath the national numbers. There's quite a bit of variation playing out in the states. But there are also varying trends across categories. And while it's not completely universal, it's worrying that benefit spending, as well as administration and other support services, are eating up larger and larger shares of education spending. If teachers are upset about flat or stagnant salaries in their states, they should start by looking to see whether total education funding has gone up in their community, and then look to see where the money is going.
*Throughout this post, I'm going to be looking at current spending in per pupil, inflation-adjusted dollars. Current spending excludes things like capital and debt costs.