School spending on instructional materials and construction has risen over the past year, as funding for K-12 continues to creep upward from the days of the Great Recession, according to the 2015 Annual State of the Educational Marketplace report.
Total K-12 spending for instructional materials rose by 9 percent over the prior year, to $11.8 billion in the 2013-14 school year—the first increase since the 2007-08 year, the report by the Education Market Association says. Still, spending has not returned to prerecession levels.
More than $14 billion was spent on school construction during 2014, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year, and the fourth straight year that spending on school construction has risen.