Special Report
Education Funding

Map: Per-Pupil Spending, State-by-State

June 06, 2018 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

As part of each state’s overall school finance grade, Quality Counts 2018 looks at per-pupil spending adjusted for regional cost differences across states. It captures factors such as teacher and staff salaries, classroom spending, and administration, but not construction or other capital spending.

In March 2024, Education Week announced the end of the Quality Counts report after 25 years of serving as a comprehensive K-12 education scorecard. In response to new challenges and a shifting landscape, we are refocusing our efforts on research and analysis to better serve the K-12 community. For more information, please go here for the full context or learn more about the EdWeek Research Center.

A version of this article appeared in the June 06, 2018 edition of Education Week

Events

Reading & Literacy K-12 Essentials Forum Supporting Struggling Readers in Middle and High School
Join this free virtual event to learn more about policy, data, research, and experiences around supporting older students who struggle to read.
School & District Management Webinar Squeeze More Learning Time Out of the School Day
Learn how to increase learning time for your students by identifying and minimizing classroom disruptions.
Recruitment & Retention Webinar EdRecruiter 2026 Survey Results: How School Districts are Finding and Keeping Talent
Discover the latest K-12 hiring trends from EdWeek’s nationwide survey of job seekers and district HR professionals.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Students Make Appeals to Congress to Protect K-12 Funding
National Student Council representatives shared perspectives on challenges schools are facing.
6 min read
Molly Kaldahl (right) and Ava Nkwocha, who attend Millard South High School in Omaha, Neb., meet with their senator’s legislative staff to discuss the National Student Council’s federal legislative agenda on Oct. 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Molly Kaldahl, right, and Ava Nkwocha, who attend Millard South High School in Omaha, Neb., meet with the legislative staff of U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., to discuss the National Student Council’s federal legislative agenda on Oct. 28, 2025, in Washington.
Courtesy of Allyssa Hynes/NASSP
Education Funding Opinion The Federal Shutdown Is a Rorschach Test for Education
Polarization, confusion, and perverse incentives turn a serious discussion into a stylized debate.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Education Funding Many Districts Will Lose Federal Funds Until the Shutdown Ends
And if federal layoffs go through, the Ed. Dept. would lack staff to send out the funds afterward, too.
7 min read
Students from Rosebud Elementary School perform in a drum circle during a meeting about abusive conditions at Native American boarding schools at Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in Mission, S.D., on Oct. 15, 2022.
Students from Rosebud Elementary School perform in a drum circle on Oct. 15, 2022. The Todd County district, which includes the Rosebud school, relies on the federal Impact Aid program for nearly 40 percent of its annual budget. Impact Aid payments are on hold during the federal shutdown, and the Trump administration has laid off the federal employees who administer the program.
Matthew Brown/AP
Education Funding Trump Admin. Relaunches School Mental Health Grants It Yanked—With a Twist
The administration abruptly discontinued the grant programs in April, saying they reflected Biden-era priorities.
6 min read
Protesters gather at the State Capitol in Salem, Ore., on Feb. 18, 2019, calling for education funding during the "March for Our Students" rally.
Protesters call for education funding in Salem, Ore., on Feb. 18, 2019. The Trump administration has relaunched two school mental health grant programs after abruptly discontinuing the awards in April. Now, the grants will only support efforts to boost the ranks of school psychologists, and not school counselors, social workers, or any other types of school mental health professionals.
Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa via AP