Per-student funding of schools has dropped in many states since the Great Recession

About 33 percent of U.S. schools began the 2013-14 school year with less state funding than last year, and "states’ new budgets are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago — often far less," Michael Leachman and Chris Mai report for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "The reduced levels reflect not only the lingering effects of the 2007-09 recession but also continued austerity in many states."

The center did a study of budget documents that found "At least 34 states are providing less funding per student for the 2013-14 school year than they did before the recession hit. Thirteen of these states have cut per-student funding by more than 10 percent. At least 15 states are providing less funding per student to local school districts in the new school year than they provided a year ago. This is despite the fact that most states are experiencing modest increases in tax revenues. Where funding has increased, it has generally not increased enough to make up for cuts in past years. For example, New Mexico is increasing school funding by $72 per pupil this year. But that is too small to offset the state’s $946 per-pupil cut over the previous five years." About 44 percent of education funding comes from state funds, the center reports.

"Cuts at the state level mean that local school districts have to either scale back the educational services they provide, raise more local tax revenue to cover the gap, or both," the report states. "Given the still-weak state of many of the nation’s real estate markets, many school districts struggle to raise more money from the property tax without raising rates. Federal employment data show that school districts began reducing the overall number of teachers and other employees in July 2008, when the first round of budget cuts began taking effect. As of August 2013, local school districts had cut a total of 324,000 jobs since 2008." (Read more)