States Seek to Boost K-12 Aid as Revenue Recovers

Library assistant Cindy Labezius replaces a book at Washington Elementary School in Lancaster, Pa. Six staff positions were cut at the school as a result of the district receiving $6 million less from the state last year. Though tax revenues have begun to recover in many states, budget analysts and school officials say districts will be feeling the effects of recession-driven cutbacks for years.

—Alex Brandon/AP-File

Gradual funding rise seen, though past cuts still sting

By Sean Cavanagh

Buoyed by gradual increases in tax revenues, many states are looking to devote more money to schools in the coming year, after having held the line or made significant reductions during the Great Recession and its aftermath.

Yet even accounting for those proposed increases in spending, budget analysts and local officials predict that states and districts will be coping for years to come with the effects of deep cuts they've made to K-12 personnel, programs, and services.

The proposed bumps in education spending, which have been offered by Democratic and Republican governors alike, vary in size, though in many cases they are relatively modest. In fact, in some states, skeptics have argued that the increases amount to less than they seem, make too much of the new funding conditional, or will do too little to help districts that have suffered...